Requirements for the microbiological quality of cosmetic products are given in the EC Cosmetics Regulation and are also reviewed in the safety assessment. The requirements for microbiological quality and safety must reliably be reached in the development and manufacturing process, which has to be safeguarded through the application of the microbiological quality management (MQM). As generally being the case for all quality management systems, the risk management is an integral part of the MQM. The risk management consists of three procedural steps: detection and analysis of risk – evaluation of the risk – taking counter measures and follow up activities. It should already be used for defining proceedings, measures and specifications of the system to avoid microbiological risks, but then it is also applied for implementation of these activities and finally, in case of detected microbial contaminations, which might cause hazards for the product and the user. The working steps of the risk management and their assignment into the MQM are described using sample situations.