European Commission
Health-EU. The Public Health Portal of the European Union

The Pictograms in this page have been developed for this purpose. A number of authorities and stakeholders in the EU Member States are starting to promote their use. Any organisation can use them. They can be downloaded for free from this site for display at points of sale and consumption (beaches, pools, marinas, mountain huts, etc.).

1. Protect yourself!

2. Use sunscreen products correctly!

3. More information

 

Protect yourself!

Sunscreen products cannot deliver total protection from UV radiation. Every product lets some of the UV radiation through . This holds also true for products claiming to be a “sun block” or to offer “total protection”. Therefore:

Avoid excessive sun exposure at peak hours

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Keep yourself well covered, including hat, T-shirt, and sun glasses

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Avoid direct sun exposure for babies and young children
Avoiding UV radiation is most essential for children. The more a baby or child is overexposed to UV radiation, the higher is the risk of skin-cancer later in life. Therefore, babies and children should best not be exposed to direct sunlight at all:

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Use sunscreen products correctly!

There are two types of ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the earth: UVB and UVA. UVB radiation is the cause of “sun-burn”. UVA radiation causes premature skin ageing and interferes with the human immune system. Both types of radiation are important contributors to the skin-cancer risk.

Use sunscreen products that offer sufficient protection for your skin
The sun protection factor (SPF) is a score used to describe the ‘strength’ of the product to protect against “sun–burn”, i.e. mainly UVB radiation. It is important to know that an SPF over 50 does not increase the protection against sun burn and UVB radiation for normal skin. If a product is applied correctly (see below), a SPF of category “medium” (i.e. SPF 15, 20 or 25) suffices to protect a person with normal skin from sun burn. Only if a product is applied in insufficient quantity would a higher category be required.

Apart from UVB-protection (expressed with the SPF), your sunscreen product should protect also against UVA radiation: As the SPF mainly refers to sunburn, sunscreen products with only UVB-protection may provide a false sense of safety because they still let hazardous UVA radiation reach the skin.

Use sunscreen products generously
It is important to know that sunscreen products have their full effect only if used in sufficient quantities : to protect the whole body of an average-seized adult, a quantity of 35 grams of the sunscreen product needs to be applied. This is a quantity equal to approximately six filled tea spoons. Currently, consumers usually use only half of this quantity, which reduces protection by even more than half.

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Re-apply sunscreen products frequently
It is crucial to re-apply sunscreen products frequently, especially after swimming, bathing or towelling in order to maintain the original protection. However, it is not possible to extend the protection time through continuous re-application of the sunscreen product . Once the efficacy of the applied product has been exhausted, re-application of the product leads to an accumulation of exposure to UV radiation and thus to over-exposure.

 

More information

Rules for labelling of sunscreen products in the EU

More information in your country:

Bulgaria Ministry of Health	Nederlands - Verstandig zonnen - Zonnetips - Gouden Regels	Sweden SOLinformation
Denmark - Skru ned for solen - Solcreme og selvbruner/selvbrunerkabiner: Miljøstyrelsens kosmetikguide	Norway Kreft foreningen	United Kingdom - Sunsmart - Sunsense
France - Soleil – mode d’emploi - Guide de la protection solaire	Finland - Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority - Finnish Meteorological Institute - Finnish Cancer Organisations	Poland UVAgaslonce
Belgium - French version: soleilmalin - Dutch version: veiligindezon	Slovak republic Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic	Austria Federal Ministry for Health, Family and Youth
Germany Haut.de	Spain El sol	Czech Republic Ministry of Health
Slovenia Ministry of Health	Hungary Napsugarzas.hu