Following her presentation at the MicroMed conference in Capri in September 2017, Esther Kentin was asked to write an article for the Focus Point of the European Physical Journal Plus on ‘Microplastic Pollution: Assessment, Effects and Mitigation Strategies’. The article focuses on REACH, the EU chemical regulation. In November 2017, the European Commission has initiated the restriction process regarding intentionally added microplastics. The article describes and analyses the procedure and criteria of REACH in relation to microplastics in cosmetic products. One of the conclusions is that when less data is available, restriction is less likely. The open access article is available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2018-12228-2.