Cosmetics Manufactured Domestically by Entrusted 3rd Party cannot be filed by Oversea Enterprises

On May 23rd, a cosmetic enterprise was issued with a negative review opinion on their domestic non-special use cosmetics (non-SUC), issued by the Guangdong Medical Products Administration (MPA), which stated that their product was non-compliant based on “the entrusting party not conforming to the provisions of Article 20 of Guangdong Cosmetic Safety Regulation ^[1].

Provisions of Article 20 of Guangdong Cosmetic Safety Regulation ^[2]

The following is the English version of Article 20 of Guangdong Cosmetic Safety Regulation:

“For the entrustment of cosmetics, the entrusting party shall be responsible for cosmetics quality and safety. The entrusting party shall be a legal cosmetic management firm or cosmetics manufacturing enterprise holding a valid cosmetics production license. For the entrustment of non-SUC, the entrusting party shall be responsible for cosmetics filing; for the entrustment of SUC, the entrusting party shall obtain cosmetics registration certificate.

The entrusted party shall obtain cosmetics production license and products entrusted shall be within the scope of its production license. The entrusted party shall take the responsibility of products quality and safety according to law.

The entrusting and entrusted parties shall sign the entrusted production contract, clarify the scope of the entrustment, the rights and responsibilities of both parties, and the time limit for entrusted production shall not exceed the validity period of the cosmetics production license and the business license.”

ChemLinked Insights

The provisions of Article 20 of Guangdong Cosmetic Safety Regulation ^[3] delivered a message that the entrusting party shall register with the Administration for Market Regulation and obtain a business license. Therefore, natural person, individual business and oversea enterprises are not qualified to be an entrusting party, which means in Guangdong, domestic non-SUC entrusted by oversea enterprises to be produced domestically are not eligible for filing by overseas enterprises.

Industry Insiders Advice

Q: In Guangdong, how can we overcome this obstacle and file cosmetics entrusted by oversea enterprises for domestic production?

A: Currently according to Guangdong MPA, if this kind of products needs to be filed, the domestic manufacturer should undertake the responsibility for product filing on behalf of the overseas enterprise.