Sunscreen manufacturers are misleading consumers with confusing labels and products that do not always help prevent skin cancer and premature ageing, the European Commission warned today.
It said new regulation would be put forward later this year requiring makers of sunscreen to use better labels and to stop using words such as "sunblocker", which it said gave a false impression of total protection from the sun's harmful rays.
"Consumers must be made fully aware that no sunscreen product can provide 100 per cent protection against hazardous UV-radiation," Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said in a statement.
The Commission said the common label "sun protection factor (SPF)" referred only to ultraviolet UVB radiation, which causes sunburn.
It does not include UVA rays, which lead to premature skin aging and immune system problems and contribute to skin cancer.
The proposal, which the Commission said it expected industry to accept, would require UVA protection be "indicated in a uniform way based on standardised testing methods".
The labels must also have clear warnings and instructions on how to use sunscreen properly.
The guidelines, expected to go into force in 2007, will apply to all sunscreen products sold in the EU, including those imported from other nations.
The Commission said the sunscreen market in the EU was valued at €1.3 billion in 2004 in terms of retail sales.