Taiwan Releases New Draft of List of Preservatives in Cosmetic Products

The current version of List of Preservatives in Cosmetic Products was released on 30th May 2019 and entered into force on 1st July this year, coinciding with the implementation of the new overarching cosmetic regulation Cosmetic Hygiene and Safety Act. It replaced the old list, Standard for Usage and Maximum Concentration of Permitted Preservatives in Cosmetics. However, these two lists don’t have many differences.

Therefore, TFDA released a total new draft version to regulate the use of preservatives in cosmetics. There are 4 main changes in this new list:

1.Some preservatives are deleted

In addition to some preservatives being combined into one category, a total of 10 preservatives are deleted from this list, such as Cetylpyridinium chloride and Cloflucarban.

2.The names of some preservatives have changed

The names of some preservatives on the new list have changed. For example, the name of Chloramine T is changed from Benzenesulfonamide to Tosylchloramide sodium.

3.Set specific dosage limit and rules for oral products

With the implementation of the new overarching cosmetic regulation Cosmetic Hygiene and Safety Act, oral products are now regulated as cosmetic products in Taiwan. Therefore, this list sets specific dosage limit and rules of preservatives for oral and lip products. For example, the dosage limit for Benzoic acid used to be 0.2%, but in the new list, it is regulated like this:

Name	CAS No.	Scope of use	Dosage limit
Benzoic acid	65-85-0/ 532-32-1	(a)Instant rinse products (Except oral products) (b)Non-instant rinse products (c)Oral products	(a)2.5% (Calculate according to Acid) (b)0.5% (Calculate according to Acid) (c)1.7% (Calculate according to Acid)

4.Add some dosage limit and labeling rules

Compared to the old list, the new draft list adds more details on the usage of preservatives in cosmetics. For example, products which use Chlorobutanol need to be labelled “Contains Chlorobutanol”.

Here is a graph which can help you better understand the adjustment, PDF. And we also have uploaded the translated full version of this draft list to our cosmelist. You are welcome to download it for more details. The public consultation for this list starts from 31st July and lasts for 60 days. If you have any relevant suggestions, you are welcome to send it to us ([email protected]) before 15th Sept, 2019. We will sort your suggestions and submit on your behalf.