Welcome To The Guild of Craft Soap & Toiletry Makers

The Guild has two very specific aims:

(1) To raise awareness of the legislative standards that are in place that apply to craft soap and toiletry products

(2) To register as members of the Guild crafters who work in compliance with this legislation and who hold relevant public liability insurance

 It is not generally known that in order to legally sell a crafted soap or toiletry product within the European Union that it must meet legislative guidelines. The reason for this is public safety. The same legislative standards applies to imported products.

The Guild is non-commercial and is run by volunteers who give their time freely for the benefit of both our members and the professional as a whole. The Guild operates an open admissions policy and membership is FREE to any soap or toiletry maker who holds safety assessments for their product range...

 To view a sample membership certificate click here - for more information on joining click here  and click here to follow GCSTM on FaceBook

About The Legislation


 The legislation in question is the Cosmetics Products (Safety) Regulations and it is legislation in force within the European Union.  Different countries may interpret and implement it differently.

Current membership countries of the European Union (EU) are:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Applications from any of these countries is welcome. A major reason for the existence of the Guild is to raise awareness of the Cosmetics Products (Safety) Regulations.  Because of this we are not currently accepting applications from crafters in areas where the legislation is not in force.  This is a practical policy decision only and should not be viewed as a reflection on the quality of crafts produced by manufacturers outside the European Union.

 The legislation sets standards. It aims to ensure that every ingredient in handcrafted soap & toiletry products is safe to use. 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 & toiletry maker.
Who can join the Guild?

The Guild is free to join and is open to:

Any EU based craft soap & toiletry maker who can demonstrate that their products have been safety assessed and approved for sale by a chartered chemist in line with the Cosmetics Products (Safety) Regulations.  Members are required to hold insurance cover where available (such cover may not be available in all countries). We no longer ask to see copies of insurance policies but it is the members responsibility to ensure that they hold such cover where available and where not that they abide fully with any variations in local legislation.

The Guild does not set standards, our aim is to raise awareness of those that already exist. Note each member is responsible for ensuring that they continue to meet membership conditions, including updating safety certificates as required, and any issue affecting membership eligibility must be reported in writing to the Guild immediately.

What do I gain by joining the Guild?

You are making yourself known as a craft soap & toiletry maker who complies with the relevant legislation. You can let your customers know this by stating that you're a member of the Guild on your promotional literature. Members receive a membership certificate.

You can also tell other people about the Guild and encourage them to join. The more members we have, the greater the ability of the Guild to work on behalf of its members interests.

Additional information about the Guild

The Guild exists to raise awareness of existing standards.  The Guild does not set standards, these have already been put in place by Government.  Neither does the Guild involve itself in approving suppliers of raw materials and products.  As raw materials used in craft products must be safety tested and certified before the end product can be legally sold, standards in the area of supply are maintained by those who test the products.  Testing is carried out by chartered chemists who have undergone specialist training.

The Guild Logo is only to be used by our members.  Any other use is only with our written permission!

The Guild was founded on Friday 14th Sept 2007