Children's Cosmetics: Obligations for Foreign Stakeholders in the Chinese Market

After 3-year study and internal discussion, as well as the 8-month public consultation, the "Guidance on Application and Review of Children's Cosmetics" was finally released by the CFDA (China Food and Drug Administration) in October, 2012 and came into effect since February 1st this year. It regulates the standard of cosmetics for children of 12 years including the definition, formula, toxicity, package, etc.. Considering the population of children under 14 is over 220 million in China (Source from State Statistics Bureau), and the cosmetics market targeting children is estimated to hit  9.263 billion CNY in 2016 with a 17% annual increase (Source from Euromonitor), this guidance is crucial for the companies competing for their share in China's children cosmetics market.