This document gives guidelines for the stability testing of cosmetic products. It reviews readily available bibliographic references that provide a resource for the assessment of the stability of cosmetic products. This review of the available guidelines that assess the stability of cosmetic products can serve as a technical/scientific framework to identify the most suitable methods for the assessment of the stability of cosmetic products.

This document does not aim to specify the conditions, parameters or criteria of stability testing.

Considering the wide variety of cosmetic products, storage and use conditions, it is not possible to define a single way to assess product stability. Therefore, it is up to the manufacturer to specify and justify the stability protocol to cover test methods, specifications and conditions at which products will be tested.