South Korea Consults on the Enforcement Rule of Cosmetic Act

According to the new exposure draft, the custom cosmetics compounding manager is expected to serve as the responsible sales manager under certain conditions. The education courses could be finished in six months.

South Korea unveiled the exposure draft of Enforcement Rule of Cosmetic Act to solicit public opinions on September 10, 2020^[1]. Stakeholders can send their suggestions to [email protected] prior to October 21, 2020.

The main amendments are:

1. Scope Extension of the Qualified Responsible Sales Managers

After the implementation of provisions related to custom cosmetics on March 14, 2020, MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) has certified 3,015 "custom cosmetics compounding managers". As the surge of custom cosmetics compounding managers continued, the authority proposed to permit these compounding managers with one-year experience in cosmetic manufacture or qualify control as qualified "responsible sales managers". Through this modification, MFDS intended to enhance the value of the people with expertise.

According to the present regulation ^[2], the responsible sales managers are only subject to "doctors, pharmacists, people with a science bachelor, or people engaged in cosmetics manufacture and quality control for over two years".

Background

A person who intends to register the responsible cosmetic sale business is referred to as the "responsible sales manager". The responsible sales manager conducting the custom cosmetics business shall comply with the standards for quality control and responsible post-sale safety control of cosmetics. Additionally he or she needs to employ a "custom cosmetics compounding manager" engaged in the mixing and division into smaller amounts of custom cosmetics. A custom cosmetic compounding manager shall pass the qualification test required by the MFDS.

2. Education Requirement

The responsible sales manager and custom cosmetic compounding manager shall finish the education courses designated by MFDS every year. It is hard to complete the annual education for the ones who start to work at the end of the year due to lack of time. Therefore, MFDS planned to change the relevant provisions. The details are as follows:

	Present	Draft
Responsible Sales Manager	Shall finish the education courses by the end of the first year working as a responsible sales manager or custom cosmetic compounding manager.	Can complete the education courses in six months for the first year working as a responsible sales manager.
Custom Cosmetic Compounding Manager		Can be exempted from the annual education courses in the year being designated as a "responsible sales manager".

3. Other Amendments

(1) Any changes to the registration information will be shortened from 15 days to 10 days.

(2) To label or advertise a product as a "natural cosmetic" or "organic cosmetic", the proof data of these products are to be kept for three years since the manufacturing date or one year after the expiry date.

(3) Some unnecessary items are to be deleted, such as the Chinese characters in the application letter, etc.