By Lee Hyo-sik
China is set to impose stricter sanitary rules on Korean and other imported cosmetics products later this year, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Sunday.
Domestic beauty companies, which have aggressively made inroads into the world’s second-largest economy, should take preemptive steps to cope with growing regulatory risks there, the export promoter said.
Beginning December, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) will enforce the revised law concerning the safety of cosmetics products sold in China. The revision is largely aimed to bolster the state supervision of substances used to make skincare and other beauty products, according to KITA. The initial law was enacted in 2007.
The revised rules require cosmetics makers to use less harmful substances, making it more expensive to produce goods.
For instance, cosmetics goods, produced both domestically and abroad, will be banned if they contain more than 10 milligrams of lead per kilogram, compared to the current 40 milligrams per kilogram. The standard for arsenic will also be strengthened from 10 milligrams per kilogram to 2 milligrams per kilogram.
In addition, the CFDA has added 133 new substances to its do-not-use list, obliging cosmetics firms not to use a total of 1,388 materials.
“The tightening rules will certainly make it more difficult for Korean cosmetics producers to get sales certification from the CFDA. They will face more obstacles in other areas of business,” said an official at KITA’s Beijing office. “If the firms were found to use banned substances, they won’t be able to do business in China. So, they should study upcoming changes thoroughly and draw up effective strategies to cope with them.”
The official then said China’s toughening stance on imported cosmetics products has nothing to do with the nation’s recent move to step up non-tariff barriers against made-in-Korea goods, following Korea’s recent decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery. “China decided to toughen sanitary rules on cosmetics last year.”