Does a Cleaning Product Have to List Its Ingredients in Australia?

Your shampoo has to tell you what is in it. Your floor cleaner does not. Here is why, what the rest of the world does instead, and what it means when you are standing in the aisle holding two bottles.

The short answer

No. In Australia there is no general requirement for a household cleaning product to list its ingredients.

A cosmetic is different. The Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard 2020 requires every cosmetic sold here to list its ingredients, in descending order of how much is in it. A cosmetic is broadly anything intended for contact with an external part of the body for cleansing, perfuming or protecting, so your shampoo, body wash, hand soap, deodorant and face cream are all covered.

Your surface spray, laundry liquid and floor cleaner are not.

Same cupboard. Same shop. Two different rules.

What Europe does

Europe settled this in 2004. Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 on detergents requires manufacturers selling to the public to publish a full ingredient list on a website that any consumer can reach, free of charge, with ingredients given in descending order of concentration. The label itself must carry ingredient categories and point to that website. There is also a duty to supply a detailed ingredient data sheet to medical personnel on request.

That is more than two decades of a European shopper being able to look up exactly what is in the bottle.

What America does

There is no comprehensive federal requirement in the United States for cleaning product manufacturers to list all their ingredients. Individual states wrote their own rules instead.

California's Cleaning Product Right to Know Act was introduced in February 2017 and signed that October. It required covered products to disclose specified ingredient information online from January 2020, and on the product label from January 2021. New York runs its own disclosure program as well.

So in America the answer depends on which state you are standing in.

Why Australia is different

This is the part worth understanding, because it is not what most people assume.

Australia does regulate these products. It simply regulates them at a different point in the chain.

The Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme assesses industrial chemicals, including those used in cleaning products, before they can be introduced here. What it does not do is set or enforce labelling for finished consumer products. Labelling standards sit with the ACCC, and the ACCC's ingredient-listing standard covers cosmetics.

So the chemicals are assessed. The list is simply never required to be printed.

Australia regulates the chemical, not the label.

So is this a safety problem?

That is the wrong question, and it is worth being precise about it.

Everything in a cleaning product is chemistry. Water is chemistry. The question is not whether these products are dangerous. It is whether the person buying one should be able to see what is in it, understand what each part is for, and make their own choice.

Chemical regulation and consumer transparency are two different things. A product can be lawfully assessed, lawfully sold, and still tell you almost nothing on the back.

What this looks like in the aisle

Disclosure here is voluntary. The industry runs its own scheme, and many brands take part.

Which means the useful signal is simple. Turn the bottle over. Some brands print a full list because they decided to. Some print a category, like fragrance or preservative, and stop there. Some print nothing at all, which is entirely legal.

A brand that prints a full list chose to. That choice is information in itself.

What would actually change it

Europe legislated it. California legislated it. Neither was volunteered.

A workable Australian version would not be complicated, and it would not be a ban. It would be a standard requiring household cleaning products to carry a full ingredient list, using standard names, with fragrance allergens named, on the pack and online.

Not alarm. Just a list.

In the meantime, the lever that exists is demand. A voluntary scheme follows demand, and the brands that already disclose are the ones proving it can be done.

Where we sit

We publish a Pūrē Standard score on everything we sell, including the ones with room to improve. We would rather show you the working than ask you to trust us.

We put the short version on Instagram, here.

Shop the low-tox edit: Cleaning, Laundry, Bathroom. Or start with the Free Guides.

Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 on detergents
• Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard 2020, ACCC
• California SB 258, Cleaning Product Right to Know Act 2017
• New York State Household Cleansing Product Information Disclosure Program
• Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme
• Accord Australasia, What's in it? voluntary scheme