The Four AICIS Introduction Categories at a Glance

Australia does something structurally different from most of the markets cosmetic makers deal with, and it trips people up when they're used to a single product notification model. AICIS, the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme, doesn't ask you to notify a finished cosmetic product the way Health Canada's Cosmetic Notification Form does. Instead, it regulates the ingredients themselves as industrial chemicals, sorting each one into an introduction category based on what's already known about it and how much of it you're bringing into the country.

Why cosmetics get pulled into "industrial chemicals" language

It sounds odd the first time you hear it: your lavender-scented body butter is regulated through a scheme built around industrial chemicals. But cosmetic ingredients are chemicals, and AICIS's structure treats them the same way it treats any other chemical entering Australian commerce, cosmetic or not. The categorization depends on factors like whether the chemical is already listed on Australia's Inventory of existing chemicals, how much you're introducing, and what's already known about its hazards, not on whether the end use is a moisturizer or an industrial solvent.

The four categories, broadly

The exact criteria and thresholds for each category are detailed on the AICIS site and do get refined over time, so treat the following as a conceptual map rather than a substitute for checking current guidance before you introduce a new ingredient.

Category	General idea	Typical situation
Listed	The chemical is already on Australia's Inventory of existing chemicals	You're using an ingredient that's well-established and already recognized, no new introduction assessment needed for that chemical itself
Exempted	Low volume or low risk introductions that fall under specific exemption criteria	Small-scale or well-characterized ingredients that meet defined low-concern conditions
Reported	Introductions that need to be reported to AICIS but don't require a full pre-market assessment	A middle tier, more oversight than exempted, less than a full assessment
Assessed	Requires a full AICIS assessment before introduction	Higher-risk, higher-volume, or less-established chemicals where AICIS wants a proper look before they enter the market

What this means practically for a cosmetic maker

If you're formulating with well-known, widely used cosmetic ingredients, glycerin, common preservatives, standard emulsifiers, there's a good chance those chemicals are already on the Inventory and fall into the listed category, meaning the ingredient itself doesn't need a fresh introduction assessment. The complexity shows up more with novel actives, newer synthetic ingredients, or anything being brought into Australia in unusually large volumes or for the first time by anyone.

This is also where AICIS diverges most sharply from a Health Canada-style model. Under the CNF system, you notify per product, after first sale, and the ingredients are screened against a hotlist during that process. Under AICIS, the categorization sits at the ingredient and introduction level, and it can, in principle, need attention before you even get to the point of notifying a finished product.

A practical approach if you're expanding into Australia

1. Get the actual list of ingredients in your formula with confirmed INCI names, since categorization decisions are made at the chemical level, not the finished product level.
2. Check each ingredient's status against the current AICIS Inventory before assuming everything defaults to "listed."
3. Pay particular attention to any novel, newly synthesized, or unusually concentrated ingredient in your line, since those are the ones most likely to fall into reported or assessed territory rather than listed or exempted.
4. Budget time for this check separately from your other market filings, since the category determination process and timelines don't mirror a straightforward product notification.

Keeping it in context with other markets

If you're already filing in Canada and eyeing Australia next, it helps to think of AICIS as ingredient-first where Health Canada's CNF is product-first. The ingredient-level discipline you're already building for Canada, mapping every raw material to a confirmed INCI name and CAS number, carries over directly, since that's exactly the information AICIS needs to determine which category each ingredient falls into.

Cosmetic Comply's Canada filing is live today, with the US, EU, and Australia on the roadmap. The ingredient-matching work it does now, INCI mapping, CAS number confirmation, blend expansion, builds the same foundation that a future AICIS-aware filing path will need, so getting that discipline right early isn't wasted effort even if Australia isn't your first market.