[Updated] China Cosmetic and New Cosmetic Ingredient Notification: The Current Situation

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Sep. 8, 2021, and was updated on Nov. 18, 2022, as per the latest developments.

Starting from May 1, 2021, China has implemented a notification system for general cosmetics and low-risk new cosmetic ingredients. Under the new system, as long as companies completed the submission of dossiers online, their cosmetics/new cosmetic ingredients are considered as “notified” and then can be manufactured or imported. There is no longer a pre-market review on notification dossiers, instead, the basic notification information will be made public within five working days after the submission.

How many new cosmetic ingredients and cosmetic products have been notified during the past months? What kind of ingredient or product information has been disclosed to the public? ChemLinked summarizes and shares the details as follows:

1. New Cosmetic Ingredients

According to the NMPA's website, 45 new cosmetic ingredients have been publicized so far, 20 are from Chinese companies and 25 are from overseas companies. It is a huge step forward for China as only 8 new cosmetic ingredients were approved from 2009 to April 2021. It can be estimated that the industry will see a great increase in the number of notified new cosmetic ingredients.

The website discloses the following information of the 45 new cosmetic ingredients to the public:

• The standard Chinese name of the ingredient

• Notification number

• Name of the notifier (Chinese & English)

• Address of the notifier

• Region/country of the notifier

• Name of the responsible person in China

• Address of the responsible person in China

• Status, e.g., in the monitoring period

• Inspection status after notification

• Notification Date

• Technical requirements of the ingredient, e.g., INCI name, CAS number, ingredient’s origin, ingredient’s traits, physicochemical properties, the maximum concentration, applicable scope, etc.

• Notes

The noteworthy information of the 45 ingredients is shown in the table below:

Cosmetic companies looking to use the above 45 ingredients in the cosmetic products can contact the notified companies for authorization. When using the new cosmetic ingredient, the cosmetic company shall also monitor the ingredient and report the safety status to the notified company within the 3 years.

2. General Cosmetics

Different from before, the total number of notified domestic and imported general cosmetics is no longer displayed on NMPA's website. When searching notified general cosmetics’ information, only after the detailed product name, notification number or name of a notifier is input, the specific notified product information can be displayed.

The detailed information of a notified product made public includes:

• Product name (Chinese & English)

• Notification number

• Notification date

• Name of the notifier (Chinese & English)

• Address of the notifier (Chinese & English)

• Country/region of the notifier

• Name and address of the responsible person

• Manufacturer

• Province of import

• Ingredient listing

• Inspection status after notification

• History

• Notes

• Product packaging

• Executive standards, including sensory index, microbiological, physical and chemical indicators, application method, precautions, warnings, storage conditions and durability.

For the notification of general cosmetics, it should be noted that although the pre-market review on dossiers is canceled, the technical requirements for products are not reduced. The government will implement stricter inspections on the notified cosmetics. In addition, the notifiers are required to submit the annual report for cosmetics notified from January 1, 2022. Once non-compliance or violations are found, the notifiers will be subject to severer punishments than before.