Ingredient Declaration: About the ICID

The International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook (ICID) is a compendium of cosmetic ingredients published by the Personal Care Products Council.  It was first published in 1973; the current version is the 16^th edition, published in 2016 and consisting of 5 volumes and just over 7,000 pages.

The ICID is the primary reference and resource for cosmetic ingredient names. The FDA references it as the first source to check for the standardized name of an ingredient, and the EU has authorized it as the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI). 

Ingredients

Volumes 1, 2 and about 1/2 of volume 3 of the ICID consist of individual monographs (a short description of a single item) of cosmetic ingredients listed in alphabetical order.  Each monograph contains all (or most of) the following information about the ingredient:

• Ingredient Name
• Unique INCI Monograph ID number
• CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) Registry Number (if one exists)
• EU Chemical number
• Definition (which may include chemical formula, other scientific name(s), regulatory information, etc)
• Chemcial Class
• Reported functions
• Ingredient Source
• Technical/Other Names
• Trade Names
• Trade Name Mixtures (where the ingredient is used in a mixture) 

Cross Reference

Volume 5 consists of a detailed cross reference between Technical/Trade Names and INCI Names.

Manufacturers get their products included in the ICID by submitting them to the the Personal Care Product Council and paying a fee. They must provide a description of the ingredient, or a list of the component ingredients if it is a mixture or blended ingredient.  Because inclusion in the ICID cross reference (and in the suppliers index) is optional and dependent of paying fees, not ALL products are found in the cross reference. 

Other Indicies

The remainder of the Volumes consist of various other indexes and cross references including:

• Product categories
• Chemical classes
• Chemical functions
• EU Trivial Names
• EU Annex Index
• Japan Index
• Japan Trivial Names
• Colorant Cross Index
• Botanical Cross Index
• INCI Name Chane index
• Translations (Japanese, Chinese)
• Suppliers Index
• (and several others)