It is likely that over the next few years a significant number of hair dye materials will be lost to the formulator as a final "hair dye positive list" is created. This means, at best, that products will need to be reformulated for the EU market. At present there is no real sign that U.S. regulation will keep up with these changes. If recent practice is followed by the Commission it is likely that you will be given very little "official" time to make the changes so it is very important for hair coloring producers (particularly outside of L'Oréal, Henkel and P&G) to keep their attention on this area to get as much warning as possible. However, it should also be remembered that the EU Cosmetics Directive simply instructs the Member States to enact the regulations into their "local" law and that the time this takes as well as the time given for compliance (also the degree of enforcement) may well vary from one country to the next. The loss of any of the most important materials could cause a major change to the face of the EU hair coloring product industry.