China Compiling a More Comprehensive Inventory of Existing Cosmetic Ingredients (IECIC 2014)

It has been more than one month since CFDA consulted on the draft of a consolidated inventory of existing cosmetic ingredients in China (IECIC 2014-draft) including 8641 substances (CL news on 23 Jan 2013). Although the draft inventory was heralded as an integrated list, there are still a large number of ingredients that have been already used in the Chinese cosmetic industry not covered by it, especially those contained in non-special use cosmetics (non-SUC) produced in China. The big regulatory loophole is caused by the fact that the registration of domestic non-SUC is not centralized by CFDA but handled by provincial food and drug administrations of varying capacities and competency, while a national system for recording ingredients used in this category is not available. Such being the case no one even the CFDA does not know how many cosmetic ingredients not included “IECIC 2014-draft” are already in widespread circulation in the domestic non-SUC marketplace. Additionaly, a CFDA official also admitted that the draft contains quite a few errors, a source of much concern amongst the cosmetics industry.

To improve this situation, CFDA announced on 11 Mar 2014 a national IECIC supplementation scheme, a move to urge domestic cosmetic manufacturers to clean up the ingredients used in their non-SUC products but are excluded from the IECIC 2014-draft and submit required ingredients' information to the provincial FDA where they are, who are responsible for gathering all ingredients information submitted and report to CFDA. The deadline for supplementation is 31 Mar 2014. The supplemented inventory will incorporate more substances, including:

• Substances in the previous two batches of IECIC approved by CFDA last year (CL news on 12 Mar 2013 & 14 May 2013) but not listed into IECIC 2014-draft;
• Restricted substances included in Hygienic Standard for Cosmetics 2007, such as preservatives, sunscreens, colorants, hair dyes, etc. but not listed into the IECIC 2014-draft yet;
• Ingredients supplemented by domestic cosmetic producers.

The news would be a breath of fresh air for overseas cosmetics companies since many substances currently classified as “new cosmetic ingredients” can potentially be added to the supplemented list.

After completion, the supplemented IECIC 2014 will be the most comprehensive existing cosmetic ingredients list compiled by Chinese regulators and be the only reference list for determining the regulatory status of a cosmetic ingredient.

Reference Link

CFDA news release