Chinese Regulations about Cosmeitc registration

In China, cosmetic products are health-related products, so Chinese government asks all cosmetic industries to register their cosmetic products before they wish to market their cosmetic products.

In China, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) classify cosmetic products into 2 categories, i.e., 'ordinary cosmetics' and 'special cosmetics'. Special cosmetics are products containing biological ingredients, such as, hair dye, sun block, deodorant and slimming products. Ordinary cosmetics are items such as lipsticks, nail care and perfume.

Cosmetics imported into China first time face tight regulatory control. If a manufacturer, distributor etc, wishes to market their cosmetic products within China while they are located outside of China, whether the ordinary or special cosmetic, they must obtain pre-market registration with the SFDA, through the State SFDA approval, only the imported cosmetics which compliance with Chinese law, then can be permitted to import into China and sell freely. And the foreign cosmetic industry must authorize a Chinese legal company to take charge the registration procedure, this Chinese legal company is called Chinese responsible agency. If you want your cosmetic products pass registration successfully, then the registered cosmetics’ quality and hygiene must compliance Chinese Regulations.

In China, The registration process is often complicated, time consuming and costly. Thus, it is true that the registration procedure is rather cumbersome.