China Now Requires New Cosmetic Registration to be Compliant with STSC

Take home:

• Although the STSC hasn’t been officially implemented, CFDA is reviewing cosmetic filing and registration referencing the technical standards of the STSC.

At the end of 2015, CFDA announced the release of Safety and Technical Standards for Cosmetics (STSC) and stipulated that the standard will be implemented from December 1st 2016.

In theory documents submitted for filing/registration before the implementation date don’t require compliance with STSC, however it was revealed to ChemLinked by a cosmetics company that CFDA has already reviewed new cosmetic filings and registrations based on STSC requirements. The company in question had its new cosmetic product application rejected based on a CFDA assessment that deemed the quality control specifications incompliant with STSC.

Cosmetic companies are advised to prepare registration in accordance with the STSC from now on. Before conducting testing, companies should ensure that the institution’s technical capacities match the requirements outlined in the STSC. New testing items requested by STSC are also necessary. In addition, the original quality control specification shall also be updated together with the Chinese version.