THE WHAT? The European Union’s European Court of Justice has given the green light to the bloc’s consumer safety regulations, which will allow member states to ban cosmetics that look too similar to food. 

THE DETAILS The supreme court aligned with Lithuania in a court case, with the country having ordered Get Fresh Cosmetics in 2018 to end the sale of bath bombs that authorities looked edible, and therefore posed a threat to children. 

The company sold items named Polka Dot Princess and Skin Candy, with the Consumer Protection Office in Lithuania determining that several types of bath bombs were dangerous, ordering the company to withdraw them from the market.

Following the company’s appeal of the decision, the Supreme Court of Lithuania referred the case to the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice in order to discover whether a 1987 EU law regulating consumer safety gave the Lithuanian authorities the right to ban the bath bombs.

THE WHY? The court’s Second Chamber stated that it was the government’s right to decide the health and safety of a product, which will overrule the company’s right to market. 

The ruling did state that a non-edible product that looked like food, was not enough to enforce a ban. 

The ruling said, “It is not necessary to demonstrate by objective and substantiated data that placing in the mouth, sucking or ingesting products which, although not foodstuffs, … may entail risks such as suffocation, poisoning, or the perforation or obstruction of the digestive tract.”