Sunscreens classified as therapeutic goods are (unless exempt) required to be included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) before they can legally be marketed in Australia. You can check if a product is on the ARTG register with an AUST L number on the bottle!
When a company or individual (called sponsors by the TGA) want to supply a sunscreen product in Australia they must comply with the information in the Australian Regulatory Guidelines for Sunscreens. These guidelines can include: registration of therapeutic sunscreens, advertisements for therapeutic sunscreens, reproducibility of SPF test results, stability testing, manufacture & quality control and permitted ingredients. Sunscreen manufacturers are also required to be manufactured in accordance with the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
To be TGA approved in Australia, sunscreens must be:
- Made to high quality standards
- Tested for safety, quality and efficacy
- Labelled with correct information about their use/application