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Food Compliance: US vs. EU vs. UK at a Glance

Selling food in one market is a regulatory challenge. Selling the same food product in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom — as many e-commerce brands do when they scale from domestic to international — means complying with three regulatory frameworks that share similar goals but differ significantly in their implementation. Your FDA-compliant food label is not valid in the EU. Your EU food contact packaging declaration is not accepted by the FDA. And since Brexit, the UK is a separate regulatory jurisdiction with its own rules.

This guide compares the food safety, labeling, and packaging requirements across all three markets and shows how to manage multi-market food compliance without maintaining three separate compliance programs.

Not sure which food regulations apply in which market? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — select Food and toggle between the US, EU, and UK to see the regulatory differences side by side.

Selling on Amazon US: The Rules That Get You Delisted

Amazon's compliance enforcement works differently from government regulation. The FCC does not scan Amazon listings for missing FCC IDs. The CPSC does not crawl Seller Central for missing CPCs. But Amazon does. Its automated compliance systems flag listings, request documentation, and suppress ASINs — and the seller gets a notification with a deadline.

The most common reason a product listing gets removed on Amazon is not a safety violation. It is that the seller could not produce the required compliance documents within the deadline Amazon gave them. The compliance existed, or could have existed — but it was not structured, not accessible, and not upload-ready when Amazon asked.

This guide covers the compliance documentation Amazon requires by product category and how to have it ready before the enforcement notice arrives.

On the Sustalium platform, the sellers who survive Amazon's compliance sweeps without listing disruptions are not the ones with the best compliance programs — they are the ones who can produce every required document for every ASIN within the 72-hour window Amazon gives them. Compliance that exists but cannot be found might as well not exist.

Not sure which documents your Amazon category requires? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — select your product type and the US, and see every certificate, test report, and warning Amazon's system expects for that category.

US Cosmetics Brand: What Most Founders Overlook

The gap between making a great lipstick in your kitchen and selling it legally in the United States is wider than most founders expect. Since MoCRA was signed into law in 2022, cosmetic regulation in the US changed fundamentally — facility registration is now mandatory, product listing is mandatory, safety substantiation is mandatory, and adverse event reporting is mandatory. And if you also sell in Europe, you need a separate EU Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) before your product reaches the market.

This guide walks through launching a cosmetics brand with the regulatory steps at each stage — so you are not discovering MoCRA requirements the week your product is supposed to ship.

On the Sustalium platform, the pattern we see with cosmetics brands is consistent: the founder handles formulation, packaging, branding, and website — then discovers MoCRA product listing and safety substantiation exist when Amazon requests the documentation. The compliance obligation has been in place for two years. The brand simply did not know it applied to them.

Not sure which regulations govern your cosmetics brand? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — select Cosmetics and your target market, and see every framework from FDA MoCRA to the EU CPSR and UK SCPN notification.

Electronics in the US: What Most Sellers Overlook

Starting an electronics brand costs more than most founders expect — and not because of manufacturing. It is the testing and certification. Every electronic product sold in the US requires FCC compliance as a matter of federal law. UL certification is commercially mandatory even where it is not legally required. And if you sell on Amazon, you need both plus a General Certificate of Conformity before your listing goes live.

This guide walks through launching an electronics product with the compliance planned and budgeted from the start.

On the Sustalium platform, the gap we see between electronics brands that launch on time and electronics brands that delay their launch by months is pre-compliance testing. The brands that send a prototype to the lab for a pre-scan before the formal FCC test identify emissions problems while they can still fix them at the PCB stage. The brands that go straight to formal testing discover the problem when the test report says "fail" — and they have already cut tooling.

Not sure which regulations apply to your electronics product? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — select Electronics and your target market, and see every framework from FCC and UL to e-waste and Prop 65.

Importing Toys Into the US: What Nobody Tells You

Toys are the most regulated consumer product category in the United States — and the compliance cost is not optional. Unlike adult furniture or general apparel, where you can issue a GCC based on a reasonable testing program, every toy sold in the US requires third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory, a Children's Product Certificate (CPC), and a tracking label permanently affixed to the product.

If you are importing toys for the first time — whether you designed them yourself or are sourcing from a manufacturer — the compliance path is the same. On the Sustalium platform, the single most common CPC rejection we see is a mismatch between the manufacturer name on the certificate and the importer name on the seller account. The testing is fine. The paperwork is wrong. Here is what you need before your toys reach a US port.

Not sure which CPSC standards apply to your toy? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — select Toys and the US, and see every applicable framework from ASTM F963 to state packaging rules.

US Clothing Brand: The Rules Most Founders Miss

Starting a clothing brand looks simple: design some pieces, find a manufacturer, launch a website. What catches most first-time apparel founders off guard is the compliance — not the design. Your fabric choice affects which flammability standard applies. Your trim supplier determines whether you need a Prop 65 warning. Your packaging can make your product illegal in California if it fails a heavy metal test.

This guide walks through launching a clothing brand with the compliance steps built in at each stage — so you are not reworking labels and repackaging inventory the week before launch.

On the Sustalium platform, the apparel compliance issue we see most often is not missing flammability tests — it is missing Prop 65 assessments. A brand launches a clothing line with a valid GCC, correct FTC labels, and compliant packaging. Six months later, a Prop 65 enforcement notice arrives because a metal zipper or a screen-printed design contained a listed chemical above the safe harbor level. The testing costs $300. The settlement costs 100 times that.

Not sure which rules apply to your clothing brand? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — pick your market and product type, and see every framework from CPSC flammability to state PFAS restrictions.

Selling Food Online in the US: The Rules You Need

You have a recipe people love. You want to turn it into a product. Maybe it is candy, hot sauce, granola, or frozen meals. The part most first-time food entrepreneurs underestimate is not the recipe — it is everything that happens after the recipe is finalized. Commercial production, food safety regulation, packaging compliance, labeling, shelf-life testing, and distribution.

This guide walks through the end-to-end process of launching a food product in the United States, with the compliance obligations woven in at the stage where they actually apply — not as a separate document you deal with later.

On the Sustalium platform, the compliance document most first-time food entrepreneurs are missing is not the FDA registration or the food safety plan — it is the Declaration of Compliance for their packaging. They have the food safety documentation. They do not have the food contact material compliance. And when a retailer or Amazon asks for it, the gap stops the launch.

Not sure which regulations apply to your food product? Use the Sustalium Global Compliance Map — select your product category and target country, and see every regulatory framework that applies, from FDA food safety to state-level packaging rules.