Sri Lanka’s Consumer Affairs Authority has introduced mandatory labelling requirements for all covered categories of soap, requiring businesses to disclose the product name and its Total Fatty Matter, or TFM, percentage on the packaging.
The requirements are contained in Direction No. 100, published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2496/39 dated 10 July 2026. The direction, issued under Section 10(1)(a) of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act, No. 9 of 2003, will take effect on 9 July 2027.
The measure follows the introduction of numerous soap brands into the domestic market and concerns that some of these brands do not disclose their ingredients or the correct TFM content. While several long-established brands already provide the relevant information, concerns have been raised that some products do not display all prescribed details in the proper manner or disclose all ingredients.
Under this direction, importers, manufacturers, store owners, distributors and traders will not be permitted to import, manufacture, store, distribute, sell, display or offer the covered products for sale unless the required information is printed on the package or label.
The gazette says: “Name of the product as specified in the schedule shall be printed in bold type in all three languages of Sinhala, Tamil and English or, in two of those three languages on the main panel and the other language on any panel.”
It also says: “Total Fatty Matter (TFM) percentage by mass shall be printed on the product label clearly and conspicuously in a bold font size of not less than 2 millimetres (2mm) when packed.”
The gazette schedule lists the covered products as “Baby Soap,” “Toilet Soap,” “Shaving Soap,” “Carbolic Soap,” “Laundry Soap,” “Bathing Bar” and “Soft Soap.” Their respective standards are SLS 547, SLS 34, SLS 36, SLS 35, SLS 554, SLS 1220 and SLS 37. The direction was issued by order of the Consumer Affairs Authority and signed by Chairperson (Acting) S M D Suriyakumara.
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