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Sources & methodology

Where the numbers come from.

Alchemis checks your recipe against fragrance, cosmetic and labelling rules. This page is the honest account of where that data comes from, how the checks work, and — just as important — what they are not.

Advisory, not a certification Alchemis's checks are an advisory, best-effort screening aid — not a certification, an approval, or a legal guarantee. You stay the Responsible Person for what you make and sell. We transcribe the values from official sources and link you to them; we never re-host the source documents, and we never invent a number we don't have.
What the checks are

A screening aid, stated plainly.

As you formulate, Alchemis flags substances that sit above a sourced limit, allergens you'll need to declare, and CLP and detergent labelling cues — each with the specific number and a suggested fix. It is not a toxicological assessment and not a certification.

The sources

Official standards, transcribed and attributed.

Every figure is transcribed from the official primary source — never a blog or a secondary summary. Each one links out to the canonical version so you can verify your own recipe against it. We link; we don't host.

Fragrance

IFRA Standards — 51st Amendment

The per-constituent maximum-in-product limits, by IFRA category. Alchemis uses them to check the fragrance load in your recipe against the cap for your product's use.

Cosmetics

EU Cosmetics Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 — Annexes II / III / V

Prohibited substances (Annex II), restricted substances and their limits (Annex III), and permitted preservatives with their caps (Annex V). Ingredient identity is cross-checked against the EU CosIng database.

Labelling

EU allergen list — Reg. (EU) 2023/1545

The expanded list of individually declarable fragrance allergens. Alchemis flags the ones that cross the declaration threshold so your label lists them honestly.

Cleaners & candles

CLP Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 — Annex VI

The harmonised hazard classifications. Alchemis uses them to surface hazard and precautionary labelling cues for cleaners and scented products.

Cleaners

EU Detergents Regulation (EC) 648/2004 — Annex VII

The fragrance allergens to declare from 0.01%, plus the perfume and preservative wording detergents must list. Alchemis keeps these in view for cleaner labels.

Advisory

SCCS opinions

Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety opinions inform advisory, non-statutory ceilings (for example on some AHAs). They're shown as guidance, never as a hard Annex limit.

How the checks work

Per-constituent, matched carefully, honest about gaps.

IFRA restricts constituents — linalool, citral, eugenol — not whole oils. So Alchemis works at the constituent level, and adds up a substance's share across everything in the recipe before it compares to a limit.

01

Aggregated across the recipe.

A substance's total % is summed across every ingredient that carries it — both direct additions and the amount derived from a fragrance's declared composition. Ingredients with an unknown % are skipped, never guessed.

02

Matched several ways.

Each limit is matched to your ingredients by ingredient identity, then CAS number, INCI name, botanical token, or a known synonym — so a substance is recognised even when it's named differently.

03

Category decides the rulebook.

Your product category maps to the right regime — a soap bar to IFRA Category 9 and the EU cosmetic rules, a candle to Category 12, a cleaner to the detergent rules. The relevant limits come into view, the irrelevant ones stay out.

04

Un-analysed oils say so.

A fragrance with no declared composition is marked "not yet checked" — an honest gap, never a false all-clear. Add its composition (or a supplier certificate) and it folds into the check. Any typical-composition estimate is clearly flagged as an estimate.

What we don't do

The lines we won't cross.

Being useful means being clear about the edges. Here's what Alchemis deliberately leaves to you and your qualified people.

The PIF dossier

It compiles the file. It never signs it off.

For an EU cosmetic, Alchemis assembles the readable CPSR Part A from data you already hold and tracks the gaps as you fill them. Audit-ready means your assembled file plus your assessor's Part B — never an Alchemis approval.

Alchemis helps you see the limits and keep good records. It isn't legal advice and it doesn't replace a qualified safety assessor or a CPSR where one is required. The values behind the checks are hand-curated on a best-effort basis — a transcribed subset of the official standards, not an exhaustive or officially validated dataset — so always verify against the source. You stay the maker and the Responsible Person; we just keep the rulebook open on the bench beside you.

See it in context

Compliance, checked at the bench.

The same honesty runs through the whole app: the number, the source, and a suggested fix — never a red wall of shame.

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