China Needs to Improve Imported Cosmetics Regulations and Standards

Nowadays imported cosmetic products are becoming more and more popular with Chinese consumers. From January to July, China imported 41 thousand tons of cosmetic products worth 1 billion 674 million US dollars. The increased influx of imported cosmetics is stretching the supervisory and enforcement capacities of both AQSIQ and CFDA to effectively police China’s cosmetic markets.

The risks posed by import of unsafe cosmetics cannot be understated. In the first half of 2015, 132 batches of imported cosmetics were inspected and deemed unqualified, and a total of 161 batches were deemed unqualified in all of 2014. The disqualifications were mainly due to excessive bacterial count, preservatives, heavy metals and arsenic.

Unqualified cosmetics continue to find their way into the Chinese market via methods like international express delivery or are carried by tourists through customs and pose considerable risk to consumer health especially when imported from regions with less developed regulatory frameworks. For example, since May 2015, Fujian Inspection and Quarantine Bureau have already uncovered 9 batches of cosmetics which came from Korea containing Botox. Botulinum toxin is banned for usage in cosmetics here in China. The products in question were declared as “health products” or “food” to conceal as is the common practice adopted by unethical traders.

Chinese cosmetic regulatory framework still has some glaring inadequacies and loopholes which can be exploited. The main problems are:

• Currently, Regulations concerning the Supervision and Administration over Cosmetics has not set detailed and clear rules on linking processes like filling process, label examination and some others for imported cosmetics after they have arrived in China.
• The supervision of ingredients and semi-manufactured cosmetics is also extremely challenging for the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.
• Regarding the quality standard of imported cosmetics, the revision of quality standards in Hygienic Standard for Cosmetics seems a little bit backward.
• Terms specifying product quality requirements are usually not included in trading contracts; therefore the quality of imported cosmetics often varies considerably.

In order to eliminate the risks posed by imported cosmetic products, China has to update its regulations and standards for imported cosmetics. A new cosmetic law similar to China’s Food Safety Law needs to be released by the government. Besides, in China, a new inspection and supervisory law needs to be developed to run in parallel with any new standards for imported cosmetics.