Membership in the GCSTM is FREE.
Membership of this Guild is entirely voluntary and not being registered as a member is not an indication of whether a crafter is in compliance with the relevant legislation.
Why is the legislation important?
The legislation sets standards. It ensures that every ingredient in handcrafted soap and toiletry products is safe to use on the human body in a wash-on wash-off product like soap, or in lotions which may stay on the skin of long periods of time. Some ingredients are banned because they’ve been found by scientific testing to be potentially harmful. Other products are banned or restricted because they are potential allergens. The aim of the legislation is to protect the general public and the craft soap and toiletry maker. The legislation is law, anyone manufacturing soap and toiletry products who does not ensure that they do so in compliance with the legislation risks being prosecuted.
~Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
How can I tell if products have been safety tested?
The seller should be able to produce evidence that their products have been tested by an authorised safety assessor. These certificates are generally issued by a laboratory. The seller may not be willing to provide copies as these certificates sometimes contain information about the product formula which remains their intellectual property. generally though an ingredients list should appear on each product if wrapped or be provided if the product is being cut on order, such as from a soap loaf for example. Its also a useful indicator that a seller holds product liability insurance as insurance companies would not be able to insure products that do not meet the standards set by current legislation.
