China GAC Amends Measures for the Administration of Imported and Exported Cosmetics Inspection and Quarantine Supervision

In March 2018, China administrative bodies and ministries underwent large-scale institutional reform. In a move to adapt to the post-reform regulatory framework, China GAC issued No. 243 order on Nov. 23 to amend some provisions of 45 regulations including the Measures for the Administration of Imported and Exported Cosmetics Inspection and Quarantine Supervision. All revisions have taken into effect as of the date of release...

Takehome:

Imported/exported cosmetic inspection and quarantine now fall under GAC’s oversight.
Outdated administrative provisions for im-/ex-port inspection and quarantine of cosmetics have been revised to comply with the recent regulatory reform.

The detailed amendments of the Measures are as follows:

1. GAC takes charge of im-/ex-port inspection and quarantine of cosmetics throughout China. Expressions of “AQSIQ” or “inspection and quarantine authority” in the Measures have been replaced with “GAC” or “the customs”.

2. Amendments to Article 8—required documents for first-imported cosmetics:

The item 1, 2, 7 were deleted.
Previous item 3 was changed into two new items:

(1) Cosmetics that are subject to administration license shall obtain the approved certificate of imported cosmetics from relevant competent authorities, and China GAC will conduct a systematic automatic check on the electronic data of the approval documents of imported cosmetics.
(2) Cosmetics that are subject to filing management shall go through the procedure of inspection and quarantine with filing certificate.

Original provisions of “Article 8”

First-imported cosmetics shall provide the following documents:

A self-declaration that the product complies with relevant Chinese legal requirements and normal use of the product will not cause harm to human health;
The product formula;
Cosmetics that are subject to administration license or filing system shall submit documents of imported cosmetic hygiene license or filing certificate approved by relevant authorities;
Cosmetics that are subject to neither administration license nor filing system shall provide the following documents:

♦ Relevant documents issued by the qualified institutions on safety assessment of the substances with potential safety risks;
♦ Certifying documents for production and marketing of products in the manufacturing country(region) or a Certificate of Origin;
In addition to the above four documents, the specimen of Chinese label, the product label in the original language and the translated text in Chinese shall also be submitted for sales packaging of finished imported cosmetics.
For non-sales packaging of the finished imported cosmetics, the information on the product name, volume/weight, specifications, place of origin, production batch number, expiry date (production date and shelf life), target market, package maker’s identification/address/contact information shall also be submitted.
Other documents required by AQSIQ.

3. Amendments to Article 23—required documents for first-exported cosmetics:

Item 1 was changed into “filing materials of export cosmetic manufacture enterprises”.
Item 2 was changed from “A self-declaration that claims the product complies with relevant legal requirements of the importing country (district) and normal use of the product will not cause harm to human health” to “A self-declaration that claims the company has obtained cosmetic manufacture license, the product complies with relevant legal requirements of the importing country (district) and normal use of the product will not cause harm to human health”.
The item 3 and item 5 are deleted.