China Details Progress in Revision of Hygiene Supervision of Cosmetics Regulation 1989

During the 2018 People's Congress Chinese authorities released the latest updates on amendments to "Regulations on Hygienic Supervision of Cosmetics 1989 (herein after referred as 'Regulation')". The last movement in this space was the 2015 released of the draft revision. The 2015 revision draft caused huge controversy...

Takehome:

The 2015 revision draft caused huge controversy. Disagreement among relevant authorities also caused a delay in promulgation and enforcement. Main concerns revolved around cosmetic labeling requirements. To ensure the accuracy of product information, the draft stipulated heightened requirements for cosmetic labels including a new requirement that all imported cosmetics required integrated Chinese language labels (essentially banning the practice of affixing Chinese translated labels over existing English labels).

These plans were a major source of contention and foreign enterprises argued that the new requirement was excessive and an unfair technical barrier to trade. In the end, the 'Regulation' doesn't officially ban the use of a Chinese "over-label" for imported cosmetics, but still stipulates stricter standards for labeling.

General Cosmetic Label Requirements

The minimum sale unit and the direct contact container of cosmetics should have labels affixed

For imported cosmetics, the Chinese label should be affixed over the original label, and the sticking process should comply with quality control standard. The labeling procedure should be specified in filing and registration dossiers

The letter on the label should be put in standard Chinese characters and content of other language should be equivalent with Chinese content.

Another change is the amendment of cosmetic classification from "special use cosmetic and non-special use cosmetics" to "special use cosmetic and general cosmetic". From the previous 9 types of special cosmetics, only 4 of them: 1) Hair dye; 2) Permanent wave; 3) Whitening and 4) Sunscreen will remain as a special category, while the other 5 types: 1) Hair growth, 2) Hair remover 3) Breast beautifying, 4) Tissue sculpting 5) Deodorizing will be deleted or regulated under a different regulatory framework e.g. pharmaceuticals.

Additionally, to meet the broad policy goal of administrative simplification, the 'Regulation' will delete articles about several registration items, shrink the scope of administrative licensing and setup a new regulatory system to better manage the multifaceted nature of cosmetic product life cycle and the chain of custody throughout the supply chain. To boost creation and innovation in beauty products, the Association of Industry and Commerce also suggested the addition of new articles and content in the new regulation to specify supporting policies for enterprises involved in cosmetic technological innovation.