Assortment policy

Bamboo & Melamine tableware

Be careful when offering children’s crockery or camping crockery. Dinnerware made of bamboo or corn fibers can be harmful in combination with the plastic melamine. The Dutch and Belgian regulators, the NVWA and the FAVV, advised to stop selling these items immediately. You can only continue to offer items that consist entirely of bamboo or entirely of melamine.

> You can find the investigation report on the NVWA website

Alcoholic beverages

It is possible to offer alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks on the platform. This follows the Dutch Commodities Act. Alcohol-free drinks have a maximum alcohol percentage of 0.1%, low-alcohol drinks have a maximum alcohol percentage of 1.2%. These drinks should be offered in the appropriate product category. It is not allowed to offer drinks with an alcohol percentage above 1.2% on the bol platform.

Tobacco & Drugs

Bol chooses not to encourage the use of tobacco or soft and hard drugs; therefore, it is not allowed to sell the following products on bol:

• Tobacco and other smoking products covered by the Tobacco and Tobacco Products Act. In addition, bol goes beyond the law as it is neither allowed to sell cigarette makers or accessories with aroma, such as aroma cards, aroma filters, aroma cigarette papers and aroma liquids.
• Products covered by the Opium Act.
• E-cigarettes, vaporisers and any other products that can be used to consume nicotine (or a nicotine-free substance), which release vapour through a mouthpiece. Parts of and accessories for these products, including refills, cartridges, tanks and kits, are also prohibited from carrying on bol.
• Pipes, bongs, cannabis pipes and bongs. Parts of and accessories for these products are also prohibited from carrying on bol.
• Items associated with the production and consumption of soft and hard drugs. These include (electric) grinders, joint casings & rollers, rolling trays & boxes and cannabis seeds.
• Whipped cream cartridges.

However, the following items are allowed:

• Ashtrays
• Lighters
• CBD products, provided they comply with applicable laws and regulations in the Netherlands and Belgium

The following articles are allowed, provided they do not contain references to cannabis:

• Electric spice grinders
• Cigarette & cigarette boxes

Currently, selling rolling papers & tips is still allowed provided they do not contain references to cannabis. From July 1, 2024, these may no longer be sold on bol because we do not want to encourage the use of tobacco or soft and hard drugs.

Smoking accessories are also not allowed to display pictures of cigarettes or cigars.

Health and nutrition claims 

Claims can never be misleading, confusing or ambiguous and must always be understandable to consumers. Before you can use a health or nutrition claim, it must be assessed, approved and listed in the European Claims Register. Claims must be scientifically substantiated, and the indication of nutritional values is mandatory. 

When placing health claims on the product picture or in the description, take into account the guidelines of the European Claims Regulation 655/2013 and make sure these claims comply with the applicable laws and regulations. 

It is not allowed to make medical claims. 

Coronavirus 

To avoid possible deception, it is not allowed to refer to coronavirus in the product picture, title and description. 

Check whether your claim is allowed with this useful database: 

> Go to claims database of the Inspection Board KOAG/KAG 

Cosmetics

To ensure that we offer safe cosmetic items to our joint customers, it is mandatory to comply with the applicable legislation for cosmetic products in EU, NL and BE. To comply with this, we have prepared the information and guidelines below. Please make sure you are aware of the legal requirements that apply to selling cosmetics.

What is a cosmetic?

“Any substances or mixtures intended to be brought into contact with the parts of the human body surface (epidermis, hair, hair, nails, lips and external genital organs) or with the teeth and the mucous membranes of the mouth, with the sole or principal purpose of cleaning them, perfuming them, changing their appearance and/or protecting or keeping the aforementioned parts of the body in good condition or correcting body odours” (Article 2.1a of the Cosmetics Regulation EC 1223/2009.).

Product safety and regulated ingredients

To ensure customer safety, the Cosmetics Regulation EC 1223/2009 requires every product to be assessed and found safe by a qualified safety assessor before it is sold. The responsible party (also called the Responsible Person/Responsible Person) is a person or company and must be able to make available a valid Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) from the safety assessor at all times. This must show that the product has been found safe by an authorised assessor and that the product meets all legal safety requirements. For confirmation, we can request this safety assessment from you, among other things. Cosmetics must be made and packaged according to certain hygiene standards (ISO 22716), this cannot just be done in the kitchen.

Once there is a serious suspicion that the range is dangerous for the customer, your range may be (temporarily) offline while we assess the (potentially) dangerous items. Responsible party of the article ensures that the correct documentation is available, when notification/assessment is involved.

Of course, it is not allowed to offer items containing banned ingredients, such as Lilial (BUTYLPHENYL METHYLPROPIONAL). Some substances are allowed in limited quantities. Cosmetics regulation EC 1223/2009 contains lists of:

• Prohibited substances (Annex II)
• Substances allowed in cosmetic products with set restrictions (Annexes III, IV, V and VI)

These lists and their restrictions change regularly. Make sure that the safety assessment (CPSR) remains up to date with changes in the product and with changes in legislation and thus that your products do not contain a recently banned substance or exceed recently (updated) restrictions. Also ensure that labels and online information are updated to the latest requirements regarding mandatory product information, instructions for use and warnings. Use the DIY Compliance manager to check whether ingredients comply with the latest legal restrictions and conditions.

Maximum concentrations for the substances Octocrylene and Benzophenone-3

Maximum concentrations for the substances Octocrylene and Benzophenone-3 apply. This means:

• Benzophenone-3 may be used up to a maximum concentration of 6% as a UV filter in products for face, hands and lips, excluding products in aerosols and spray pumps.
• Benzophenone-3 may be used up to a maximum concentration of 2% as a Uv filter in body products, including products in aerosols or spray pumps.
• In other products, Benzophenone-3 may be used as a Uv filter up to a maximum concentration of 0.5%.
• The use of Octocrylene as a Uv filter in products in aerosols is limited to a maximum concentration of 9%.
• The use of Octocrylene as a Uv filter in other products is limited to a maximum concentration of 10%.

In addition, products containing Benzophenone will be required to carry a warning label that reads, “Contains Benzophenone-3.”

Do you have any questions about the maximum concentrations of substances in your items? Please ask your supplier those questions. You can find more information on the EU-website.

Information on labels and online sales pages

For any cosmetic product, mandatory information about the product and its safe use must be available to consumers on the product itself and on the outer packaging and, in the case of online sales, also on the product’s sales page. If it is not possible to label the packaging, the option is to add a card with information.

Consumers (and authorities) should be able to see the following minimum mandatory information on the item, packaging and online sales page:

1. Name and cosmetic function of the product (e.g. body lotion, baby shampoo, etc.)
2. Ingredient list (in INCI nomenclature)
3. Name and contact details of the Responsible Person in the EU
4. Instructions and warnings for safe use (e.g. For hair colouring)
5. Country of origin (if non-EU)
6. Content (in g or ml)
7. Period after opening (in months)
8. In addition, the batch/lot code for traceability and shelf life should be mandatory on the label (but not online)

Make sure at least the mandatory product information (ingredient list, contents, period after opening and country of origin) is filled on the product page for your cosmetics range.

The list of ingredients must be displayed according to the international INCI naming standard. You must state the other information and instructions for use at least in the language(s) of the region where you market the product, i.e. in Dutch for products on the Dutch market and in Dutch and French for products on the Belgian market. More information can be found on Cosmetics Europe‘s website here. In addition, please ensure that the information is easy to read for our customers.

Ingredients obligation in INCI nomenclature

With cosmetics, it is compulsory to list the ingredients, for this you use the attribute ingredients. A clear and correct list of ingredients is compulsory, so that the composition of the cosmetic product is clear to everyone. The list should be drawn up in order of decreasing weight at the time of addition to the cosmetic product.

Ingredients must be listed with the correct INCI (International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient) names. The European ingredient database Cosmile provides information on cosmetic ingredients.

Consumers with ingredient-specific allergies can therefore easily recognise ingredients, for example.

Cosmetic products registration

To sell a cosmetic product in the EU, it must have a responsible party (aka the Responsible Person/Responsible Person) with an address within the EU and the product must have been notified by the Responsible Person in the central EU system (Cosmetic Product Notification Portal, CPNP).

Do you make cosmetic products yourself? Or are you the person/company importing the products from outside into the European Union? Then according to the law, you are automatically the responsible party, unless this responsibility has already been taken over by another person/company (notifying party and indication on the label). If you are responsible yourself, make sure your products meet all the requirements AND that your products have been correctly notified (notified) in the CPNP. Non-notified cosmetic products may not be sold in the EU. To confirm that your items comply with the guidelines, we can request confirmation of CPNP registration from you, among other things.

Claims and advertising

For cosmetics products, both on the label and on online sales pages, no claims and advertisements may be made that violate the basic criteria described in Regulation 655/2013 and related directives.

This regulation states that claims must comply with all legal requirements and claims must not mislead the consumer or any other end user.

Basically, claims must meet the following criteria:

• Compliance with legal requirements
  Failure to claim that a product complies with legal requirements
• Correctness
  If it is claimed that a product contains a particular ingredient, that ingredient must also be in the product.
  Claims about the properties of a specific ingredient must not give the impression that the finished product also has those properties when it does not.
• Evidence
  Claims must be supported by sufficient and testable evidence
• Fairness
  It is not allowed to claim specific characteristics when similar products have the same characteristics.
  When the effect of a product depends on its use in combination with another product, this must be clearly stated.
  Claims must not go beyond what can be substantiated.
• Biliqueness
  Claims should be objective and should not be derogatory to ingredients or competition.
• Making informed decisions
  Claims should be clearly accurate, relevant and understandable to the average end-user.
  Claims should also contain information that enables end-users to make an informed choice.