China Cosmetics Industry: GMP to be implemented

GMP-Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines is a set of standards applied mainly to pharmaceutical and food industries to ensure that products are consistently manufactured and controlled to the specified quality. It is concerned with all aspects of production and quality control such as ingredients, personnel, equipment, packaging and transportation, as well as sanitation and hygiene which runs through the entire production lines. The GMP guidelines facilitate operable working standards and trouble-shooting during productions.

Cosmetics GMP is utilized in most European and North American countries and is also adopted by the ASEAN member countries as well. Cosmetics products sold in European and North American markets have to meet both the cosmetics directive 76/768/EEC and the GMP standards no matter if they are imported or domestically manufactured. In China, GMP has been implemented in the pharmaceutical and health food industries, but has yet to be implemented in the cosmetics industry. However, it is recognized that the adoption of cosmetics GMP is required to bring China’s cosmetics industry in line with international practice. The CFDA designated Guangdong’s FDA to draft the very first Cosmetics GMP standard. This was to be followed by a seminar on April 21 2014. The Head of the Supervision Division of the CFDA Zhang Aiping remarked that the draft of Cosmetics GMP should take into consideration the development of China’s cosmetics industry and its supervision status quo, while taking advantage of experience from EU and North America and through this strengthen the cosmetics regulatory supervision, ensure product safety, and enhance the competitiveness of China’s cosmetics industry. The Cosmetics GMP will also strengthen the regulatory supervision of export and import including OEM and ODM cosmetics products.