China clamps down on illegal personal care and cosmetic products

This campaign is the first of its kind and scale since the Regulation came into force on 1 January 2021. During the one-year period ending in October 2022, the NMPA’s local offices across China will crack down on non-compliant cosmetic products, focusing on e-commerce sales.

Regulatory compliance will no doubt become even more important in this field. The campaign also means that brand owners facing challenges from noncompliant products, including parallel imports, will be better placed to seek regulatory intervention against such products during the course of the campaign.

The NPA’s enforcement campaign focuses on three key areas.

Online sales of unregistered products

The NMPA’s local offices will mainly crack down on online sales of unregistered products, products using falsified or third party product registrations, and blacklisted products. Online sales of products with exaggerated or misleading statements The NMPA’s campaign also tackles misleading statements and efficacy claims, including products claimed to contain ingredients such as stem cells, peeling acid, ‘cosmeceuticals’ or elements implicating medical effects. All product and labelling information used must be complete, true and consistent with the product registration information.

Cosmetics sold online containing illegal substances that may endanger human health

The NMPA’s campaign also targets products that contain prohibited or restricted ingredients, or ingredients of an excessive level, which may endanger human health. In particular, products intended for children and products for special-use purposes such as freckles and skin whitening will be the key area of focus for enforcement. In conclusion, businesses will need to re-assess the compliance of their cosmetic products and determine whether their products may become the target of such enforcement initiatives. The NMPA also emphasizes responsibilities for e-commerce platform operators, including real-name registration of distributors, having dedicated personnel to mechanisms to ensure compliance.

Finally, it is not uncommon to see parallel imported personal care and cosmetic products being offered with no product registration information, or with the brand owner’s product registration information, but without the brand owner’s authorization, or with incomplete product and labelling information. With the enforcement campaign now in place, brand owners will now also have better chance to ensure that products offered under its marks by third parties remain compliant and cause no harm to its brand.

Authored by Zhen (Katie) Feng, Yu-An Chang.