Is 4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor banned in Europe?

What the EU does

Banned, and recently so. 4-MBC was for years an authorized UV filter in the EU, sitting on Annex VI of the Cosmetics Regulation. Regulation (EU) 2024/996 reversed that: it removed 4-MBC from the approved filter list and added it to Annex II, the list of substances prohibited in cosmetics. Products containing it could no longer be placed on the EU market from May 1, 2025, and could no longer be made available from May 1, 2026.

The reason was endocrine disruption. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety concluded in a 2022 opinion that no safe concentration of 4-MBC could be established, citing evidence that it disrupts both the thyroid and estrogen systems, plus insufficient data to rule out genotoxicity. This is the precautionary default in action: faced with an endocrine signal and a data gap, the EU pulled the ingredient rather than set a limit. The ban reaches beyond sunscreen to any product with UV protection, including SPF moisturizers, foundations, and lip balms.

Citation Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Annex II; Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/996 (4-MBC moved from Annex VI to Annex II, effective May 2025); SCCS opinion 2022

What the US does

Not approved as a US sunscreen filter, and it never was. 4-MBC does not appear in the FDA's over-the-counter sunscreen monograph, so it cannot be used as an active UV filter in American sunscreens. In the US system, sunscreen filters are regulated as over-the-counter drugs, and 4-MBC simply never cleared that bar.

So the transatlantic contrast here is unusual. This is not a case of the US permitting something the EU banned. Both jurisdictions now keep 4-MBC out of sunscreen, by different routes: the EU banned a filter it once allowed, while the US never approved it in the first place. It can still turn up in imported or gray-market products, which is the main reason to know the name.

Citation FDA OTC sunscreen monograph (4-MBC not an approved active UV filter)

Products that commonly contain it

4-MBC was used as a UVB filter, mostly in European-market sun and SPF products before the ban. Watch for it in older or imported stock such as:

• Sunscreen lotions and sprays (pre-2025 EU formulations)
• Daily moisturizers and day creams with SPF
• Tinted foundations and BB creams with sun protection
• SPF lip balms and after-sun products

What to look for on a label

On an INCI list, this filter hides behind several names:

• "4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor" (the INCI name)
• "4-MBC" or "MBC", the common shorthand
• "Enzacamene", the international nonproprietary name
• If you see any of these on an SPF product, it predates or sidesteps the 2025 EU ban

Or skip the squinting: paste the whole ingredient list into our checker and it flags everything in our database. Nothing you paste leaves your browser.

Frequently asked questions

Related ingredients

• Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3) · Another UV filter under endocrine scrutiny, restricted rather than banned
• Octinoxate · A UV filter with its own transatlantic differences

Related reading

• Why Are European Sunscreens Better?