News Details

Brazil's national metrology authority, Inmetro, has opened a 60-day public consultation on a draft regulation that would update how cosmetic products declare their quantity on packaging across the Mercosur trading bloc.

The draft, published in the Diário Oficial da União on 24 April 2026, proposes replacing a Mercosur rule that has been in place since 2000. If adopted, it would determine whether a product's label must show its weight, its volume, or both, depending on the product's physical form.

Under the proposal, solid and semi-solid products such as balms and waxes would continue to display mass only, and liquids of any viscosity would display volume only. The main change from the existing rule concerns gel products, which the draft would allow to declare quantity in mass, volume, or both, a flexibility not currently available under the 2000 regulation. Inmetro says this aligns with guidance from the International Organisation of Legal Metrology.

Members of the public, industry bodies, and consumer groups have until approximately 23 June 2026 to submit feedback through the Brazilian government's Brasil Participativo platform. Comments submitted outside the platform will not be accepted.

After the consultation closes, Inmetro will review the submissions and bring a consolidated text to the next meeting of Mercosur's Working Subgroup No. 3 on Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment. The text would then need to be formally adopted by the bloc's member states (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) before taking effect.