South Korea is one of the top 10 beauty markets in the world, representing nearly 2.8 percent of the global market, and the Korean cosmetic import/production market has grown for the last 5 years (2016-2020). Under the Korean cosmetic regulations, the functional cosmetics have to be registered with MFDS and we will share the how-to with you.

On April 9, 2021, NMPA issued the Cosmetics Classification Rules and Classification Catalogue and Standards for the Evaluation of Cosmetics Efficacy Claims, which stipulated legal basis for the testing of efficacy claims. The regulations have set a transitional period for products in different status to submit the efficacy. In order to help enterprises have a better understanding of the regulatory requirements under the new regulations and more reasonably assess the efficacy claims for their products, Personal and Home Care Products Division is to host a free webinar on Cosmetic Efficacy Evaluation Requirements under the New Regulations to introduce the requirements of cosmetic efficacy evaluation under the new regulations.

Since the implementation of the Cosmetic Supervision & Administration Regulation (CSAR) in 2021 by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China, the landscape of cosmetic regulations in China has undergone significant changes. As such, CIRS is proud to announce a series of training webinars available to our clients and our regulatory network. This series will focus on one of the most widely discussed topics in the cosmetic supply chain this year, Cosmetic Ingredient Management in China with special attention paid to the Safety Information Platform.

On April 11, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control issued a notice soliciting public opinions on the draft Technical Guidelines for Children's Cosmetics. Children's cosmetics have always been the focus of cosmetics safety supervision. To know more information about supervision of children’s cosmetics, please referred to the article Comprehensive Analysis of Compliance of Children’s Cosmetics in China prepared by Personal and Home Care Products Divisions of CIRS Group.

The Safety and Technical Standards for Cosmetics is an important technical regulation for cosmetics supervision and the research and development of cosmetics in China, which is formulated based on the Regulations Concerning the Hygiene Supervision over Cosmetics (1989). Since the release of the Standards in 2015, the Standards have been revised for 8 times. Moreover, after the issuance of the Regulations in 2020 and a series of supporting documents, the concept, mechanisms, and systems for cosmetic supervision has been dramatically changed. As a result, it is urgent to revise the corresponding parts prescribed in the Standards.

On 25 March 2022, the European Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety (SCCS) issued draft opinion on the safety of Alpha-Arbutin and Beta-Arbutin, in which it concludes that without data on Hydroquinone release and its ultimate destination, it is not possible to determine the safe concentration of any Arbutin in cosmetics. The draft opinion is open for public comment until May 27, 2022.

In 2021, NMPA organized national cosmetics supervision and sampling inspections nationwide in accordance with the Regulations on Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics and other laws and regulations. In this supervision and inspection activity, NMPA severely crack down on illegal activities including cosmetics adding banned raw materials, and cosmetics production and operation not conform to mandatory national standards or technical specifications, to help improve the construction of cosmetics standard system and strive to create a safe and orderly cosmetics market environment.

Provisions on the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations of Children (hereinafter referred to as Provisions) were officially launched on October 8, 2021. Except for the labeling requirements, other regulations on children’s cosmetics came into force on January 1, 2022. Children’s toothpaste shall be also administered according to Provisions. State Administration for Market Regulation issued Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics Production and Operation on August 6, 2021, pointing out the key points of supervision of children’s cosmetics. National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) created a children’s cosmetics label called “Little Gold Shield” on December 1, 2021.

On May 31, 2021, NMPA issued the notice on Measures for Administration of Cosmetics Labeling (No.77, 2021), encouraging cosmetics registrants and filers to label cosmetics in accordance with the provisions of the Measures from the date of this announcement. From May 1, 2022, cosmetics applying for registration or filing must meet the provisions and requirements of the Measures; Where cosmetics that have previously applied for registration or been filed fail to be labeled and marked in accordance with the Measures, the cosmetics registrants and filers must complete the updates to product labels before May 1, 2023 to make them conform to the provisions and requirements of the Measures.

On April 12, Personal and Home Care Products Division and Agrochemicals Division in CIRS together held a free training course on the key points of disinfection products, antibacterial products and mosquito repellent products compliance in China. More than 600 people participated in this training course. CIRS Personal and Home Care Products Division has collected questions about disinfection and antibacterial products and shared as follows: