China consults on the draft revision of Cosmetic Safety and Technical Standards”

The National Institution for Food and Drug Control of China (NIFDC) published the draft revision of “Safety and Technical Standards for Cosmetic” (Safety Standards) on March 31, 2022. This is the first-time revision of the Safety Standards since the first version was published in 2015.

The Technical Standards form part of the overarching framework of NMPA’s Cosmetic Supervision and Administration Regulation (CSAR). All cosmetic ingredients’ manufacturers must make sure that their ingredients comply with the requirements listed in the Technical Standards.

As of now, there are 7 lists in total in the 2015 version. They regulate different areas in using cosmetic ingredients, including banned and restricted ingredients in general, allowed ingredients in sunscreen, preservatives, colorants, and hair dyes in cosmetics.

The revision remains the structure of the 2015 version, while it makes changes in the following parts:

• Adjusted the application scope of restricted or limited cosmetic ingredients. The number of banned ingredients will increases from 1388 to 1393, while the number of restricted ingredients decreases from 47 to 44.
• The number of allowed ingredients is also adjusted in different sectors. There are 48 permitted preservatives in the revision which is down from 51. The number of approved sunscreens and colorants are 26 and 156 respectively, which are all down by one compared to the 2015 version. Currently, the available hair dyes are 73 which is down by two.
• It is also clear from the revision that NIFDC will not permit the use of preservatives containing mercury or mercury compounds.
• 10 physical and chemical inspection methods are excluded from the newly revised version. There will only be 67 approved methods for conducting physical and chemical inspections if the revision is adopted.
• However, eight more toxicological test methods are added. The total toxicological tests amount to 24.
• The number of efficacy evaluation tests also increased from three to five.
• There is an upgrade to the requirement for safety assessment reports in line with cosmetic registration procedures under CSAR.

The consultation period will last until April 30, 2022. If you have any considerations regarding the revision, you can contact GPC via email: compliance@gpcregulatory.cn or zhengmin@cn.gpcregulatory.com or via GPC WeChat: 46 0708381983 (GPC China) for information and help.