The TPO ban: what has applied in Austrian nail salons since September 2025

Since 1 September 2025, a substance called TPO may no longer be present in cosmetic products anywhere in the European Union — not in nail gels, and not in professional use either. For nail salons in Austria it was a deadline that took effect immediately.

A year on, the changeover is long done. But the questions still come up in the chair — from expectant mothers above all — so here is what it was actually about, at a calm pace.

What TPO was and what it did

TPO stands for diphenyl(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (INCI: Trimethylbenzoyl Diphenylphosphine Oxide, CAS 75980-60-8). It was a photoinitiator: the component that, under a UV or LED lamp, triggers the reaction turning a liquid gel hard within seconds. No gel cures without a photoinitiator of some kind.

What is banned is the photoinitiator, not the gel manicure. That is the point last year's headlines kept overrunning. Several other photoinitiators do the same job, and manufacturers reformulated their systems around them.

Why it was banned

The European Chemicals Agency classified TPO as a category 1B reproductive toxicant — a substance presumed to damage human fertility. The classification came through Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/197 under the CLP Regulation.

Under the EU Cosmetics Regulation, a CMR classification at that level triggers a ban automatically. The Commission accordingly removed TPO from Annex III and added it to Annex II through Regulation (EU) 2025/877 of 12 May 2025 — from the list of restricted substances to the list of prohibited ones.

Before that, TPO sat in Annex III: professional use only, in artificial nail systems, at a maximum of five per cent. Since September 2025 there is neither an exemption nor a threshold. Nobody applied for a derogation before the regulation was adopted.

What it means for salons in Austria

The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber set the position out for the trade: a nail salon provides a paid service, and applying a product to a client counts as making it available on the market. From the deadline onwards, professional use was prohibited — regardless of when the stock had been bought.

Remaining stock could not be used up. For many salons that meant discarding several thousand euros' worth of product. Unlike Great Britain, which granted a sell-through period for the same rule, the EU gave professionals no transition at all.

Private individuals are treated differently: anyone who bought a gel for personal use before 1 September 2025 may go on using it privately. The chamber nevertheless advises strongly against it.

How to recognise a product

Every cosmetic product in the EU must declare its ingredients under the INCI nomenclature. On that list the substance appears as “Trimethylbenzoyl Diphenylphosphine Oxide” — written out, not abbreviated.

If you are unsure, ask your salon for the INCI list of the system it uses. A salon that works with its products rather than merely consuming them can answer that question.