How Much Does a CPSR Cost? Prices by Product Type, What Drives Them, and Every Other Cost Question Makers Ask

How much does a CPSR cost is the most common question in cosmetic compliance and the one with the least useful answers online, because most pages either refuse to say or quote a single number that cannot be right for every product. A Cosmetic Product Safety Report under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 and the UK regulation enforced through the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013 is professional work by a qualified assessor, and its price follows the work: a solid perfume with one documented fragrance is a short assessment, a water based face cream with six actives, three essential oils and a preservative needing a challenge test is a long one. This guide gives real prices, from Phoenix's own product pages, and explains what moves them.

It covers the price bands by product type, the six drivers of cost, what is and is not included in a CPSR price, how variants and ranges are priced, what dual market coverage adds, the laboratory tests that sit alongside and what they cost, addenda and updates, the other compliance costs a budget should carry, what a suspiciously cheap report leaves out, how to lower your cost honestly, and worked budgets for three typical launches. Prices are those shown on our product pages at the time of writing and are confirmed on the page for each product; use them to plan and ask for an exact quote for your formula.

What does a CPSR cost by product type?

The bands overlap because products do. A body butter with one fragrance is a lower band product; the same butter with four essential oils and a botanical active moves up. Ask for a quote with the actual formula and you will get a figure rather than a band.

What are the six things that drive the price?

• Water. A water based product needs preservation and microbiological reasoning, and usually a challenge test, which adds assessment time and a laboratory cost.
• Number of ingredients. Every ingredient needs a toxicological profile; twelve ingredients are half the work of twenty four.
• Fragrance and essential oils. Each concentrate is expanded to its constituents and each constituent of concern is assessed; three essential oils are three sets of that work.
• Actives. Every ingredient with a systemic endpoint needs a margin of safety calculation with sourced data.
• Variants. Each scent, shade or size is assessed for its difference; the base is assessed once, so ranges are cheaper per product but cost more than one report.
• Markets. A report covering both the UK and EU checks two sets of annexes and two allergen regimes and costs more than one market.

What is included in the price, and what is not?

A CPSR price covers the assessor's work: reviewing your submission, expanding fragrances, compiling toxicological profiles, running exposure and margin of safety calculations, assessing preservation and stability on the evidence you provide, writing Part A and Part B, and signing. It normally includes reasonable queries and a review of your draft label against Part B. It does not include laboratory tests, which are bought from a laboratory and whose results feed Part A; it does not include the PIF, notification or Responsible Person unless you buy the all in one pack or those services; and it does not include reformulation if the product cannot be concluded safe as submitted, although a good assessor will tell you what would fix it. Ask any provider to say in writing what the price covers.

How are variants and ranges priced?

A multiple variant report assesses the base formula once and each variant for the way it differs, so a range of six scents costs far less than six single reports. Phoenix prices ranges per variant on a sliding scale, from £55 per variant for fragrances, and the saving grows with the range. Adding a variant later is an addendum at a modest fixed price. Changing the base is a new report for the range, which is why the base should be fixed before scents are added. Our guide to multiple variant CPSRs explains the grouping and the multiple variant product page carries current prices.

What does dual market coverage add?

A report that assesses against both the UK Cosmetics Regulation and the EU regulation checks every ingredient against both sets of annexes, applies both allergen labelling regimes and concludes for each market. It costs more than a single market report, but far less than two reports, and it is the right choice for any brand selling in Great Britain and Ireland, or into the EU, or across the whole UK including Northern Ireland. Phoenix prepares any CPSR as dual market on request; our guide to dual market reports explains what the report must contain.

What do the laboratory tests cost?

None of these is included in a CPSR price, and none can be skipped where the assessor requires it. Budget the challenge test for every water based product from the start; it is the cost that most often surprises a first time brand.

How do I lower the cost honestly?

• Submit complete documents. Formula with exact percentages, SDS and specifications, IFRA certificates and allergen statements with percentages. Incomplete submissions cost the same fee and take weeks longer.
• Start anhydrous. Balms, oils and solids avoid challenge tests and sit in the lower band.
• Build ranges on shared bases. One multiple variant report instead of several single ones.
• Decide markets before assessing. A dual market report from the start is cheaper than a single report plus an addendum.
• Choose documented ingredients. Well characterised materials with supplier data assess faster than novel ones.
• Fix the base before adding scents. A base change is the expensive event.
• Ask before you formulate. A short consultation catches the ingredient that would have forced a reassessment.

Three worked budgets

A solid perfume, one scent, Great Britain only

Fragrance CPSR from £55. No laboratory test. PIF from the free template, SCPN notified yourself, own Responsible Person. Label review. Total compliance cost before insurance in the low hundreds of pounds, most of it the report.

A body butter in five scents, Great Britain and Ireland

Multiple variant CPSR, dual market, priced per variant from £55 each with a range discount. No challenge test, since anhydrous. Allergen check for the two essential oil scents with thin supplier data, from £35 each. EU Responsible Person annual fee for Ireland. SCPN and CPNP notifications. Label review for five variants with the expanded allergen list. Total in the mid hundreds before the Responsible Person fee and insurance.

A water based face cream with actives, three variants, UK and EU

CPSR in the upper band, multiple variant, dual market. Challenge test per formula and stability per formula and pack from a laboratory. All in one pack for PIF, SDS and both notifications from £131.25 plus the CPSR. EU Responsible Person annually. Label review for three variants in two market versions. Total comfortably over a thousand pounds before insurance, with testing and the second market the largest items after the report.

How much do the other things people ask about cost?

• How much does testing cost? Depends on the test; a challenge test is the common one, SPF the expensive one; see the table above.
• How much does it cost to register a cosmetic? SCPN and CPNP are free to submit; FDA registration and listing in the US are free to file; the cost is the time or a service fee.
• How much does certification cost? There is no certification for cosmetics in the UK or EU; the cost people mean is the CPSR.
• How much does a licence cost? No licence is required to sell cosmetics in the UK or EU.
• How much does it cost to start? From the low hundreds for a single anhydrous product done yourself to several thousand for a water based range across two markets with testing and a Responsible Person; our startup cost guide has the detail.

How much does a Responsible Person cost? Nothing if you can be your own; an annual fee for an EU or UK service.

Myths we hear

• A CPSR costs the same for every product. It costs what the work costs, and the work varies tenfold.
• The cheapest quote is the same document as the dearest. Only if the same work was done; ask for the sample.
• The price includes the challenge test. Laboratory tests are separate.
• I need a CPSR certificate and that has a price. There is no certificate; the report is the deliverable.
• Testing is optional if the CPSR is done. The assessor decides which tests are needed and cannot conclude without them.

What to do this week

• List your products and mark each as anhydrous or water based, single or range, one market or two.
• Gather the fragrance documents; missing ones are the commonest reason a quote becomes an estimate.
• Request a quote with the actual formula.
• Ask for a sample Part B alongside the quote.
• Budget the challenge test for every water based product now.

The honest answer to how much does a CPSR cost is that it depends on the product, and this guide has told you exactly how. For a figure rather than a band, send the formula; for a range of scents, start with the multiple fragrance page; and for the whole chain in one price, the all in one pack is where most first launches end up.

Official sources and legislation

• Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products
• Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013
• OPSS guidance on cosmetic products regulations
• Submit cosmetic product notifications (SCPN)
• Office for Product Safety and Standards

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal advice. Regulations change and product decisions depend on your exact formulation, claims and market. Have your product assessed by a qualified professional before sale.