Thanks for the article...I was about to look for something along the same lines.

The US historically has really only been concerned with UVB rays (the ones that burn you. That is all the SPF rating refers to. Many European sunscreens offer and additional rating system for UVA. There sunscreens have an SPF rating and a PA rating (the uva protection) it will be PA +, ++, +++ or ++++.

Also, there are many ingredients that are not photo stable (which is ridiculous in a sunscreen) So you either have to make sure there is something to stabilize the ingredients or it contains a sunblock that is photo stable.

My husband thinks that it is hilarious that for years, I had my friend ship me contraband sunscreen from europe (the fda hadn't approved the sunblock)