How to Search an Ingredient on the AICIS Inventory

Australia trips people up because it doesn't run a per-product cosmetic notification the way Canada or the UK do. Instead, AICIS, the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme, treats cosmetic ingredients as industrial chemicals, checked against an Inventory and categorized by introduction type. If you're used to filing a product-level form, this feels backwards at first. It isn't backwards, it's just a different unit of analysis: the chemical, not the finished product.

Why Australia checks chemicals, not products

Under AICIS, what matters is whether each individual chemical in your formula is already listed on the Inventory, meaning it's a known, previously assessed substance, or whether it needs to be introduced through one of AICIS's categories first. This means your compliance work in Australia happens at the ingredient level before you ever get to thinking about the finished product as a whole.

Getting your ingredient identity right before you search

The AICIS Inventory is organized around chemical identity, so a search only works if you're searching with the right identifiers. This is where INCI names cause the most confusion. INCI is the cosmetic industry's standardized naming system, built for ingredient lists and labels. AICIS, being a chemical inventory, may reference substances by chemical name, CAS number, or sometimes a different naming convention entirely. The CAS number, a unique registry identifier for a specific substance, is usually your most reliable anchor because it doesn't shift with naming convention or industry.

Practical prep before you search:

1. Start from your full formula, INCI name by INCI name, not from a supplier's trade name.
2. Get the CAS number for every ingredient. Most raw material suppliers provide this on the spec sheet or CoA; if not, ask.
3. Watch for ingredients with more than one CAS number. Some substances have several registered numbers depending on manufacturing route or hydration state, so a "not found" result on one CAS doesn't necessarily mean the substance isn't listed at all.
4. Flag botanical extracts early. Some plant extracts have no CAS number, which makes an Inventory search trickier and may need a different verification approach entirely, sometimes through the supplier's own documentation of how the extract has been previously used or classified.
5. Expand supplier blends into components. A blend sold under a trade name might contain three or four separate chemicals, each of which needs its own identity check, not the blend name as a single line.

Doing the actual search

Once your ingredient list is clean, INCI mapped to CAS, work through it systematically:

• Search the Inventory using the CAS number first, since it's the least ambiguous identifier.
• Cross-check with the chemical name if the CAS search comes up empty, in case of a listing or formatting mismatch.
• Note the result for each ingredient: listed, not listed, or ambiguous (multiple CAS numbers, no CAS available, or a partial match).
• Keep a record of what you searched and when, since Inventory contents and introduction categories can be updated.

What it means if something isn't listed

A chemical not found on the Inventory doesn't automatically mean you can't use it, but it does mean you likely need to look at AICIS's introduction categories to determine the right pathway before you can bring that ingredient into a product sold in Australia. This is a meaningfully different workflow from a market where the ingredient is simply checked against a prohibited list. Treat "not listed" as a flag to research further, not a dead end and not something to skip past.

A quick reference for the mental model

Step	What you're doing
Build the ingredient list	INCI name for every component, blends expanded
Attach CAS numbers	From supplier documentation, per ingredient
Search the Inventory	By CAS first, chemical name as backup
Record the result	Listed, not listed, or ambiguous
Handle unlisted chemicals	Investigate the relevant introduction category

Where this connects to the rest of your compliance work

The unglamorous part of this whole process, mapping every ingredient (including what's hiding inside a supplier's blend) to its correct INCI name and CAS number, is exactly the groundwork Cosmetic Comply builds for every market it supports, expanding blends and carrying real percentages through so nothing gets lost in a trade name. Canada is live today; Australia is on the roadmap. Whatever tool or process you use to get there, get that ingredient identity work right first. Everything else in an AICIS check depends on it.