Recently, Fujian Food and Drug Administration carried out a special check on domestic non-special use cosmetics. Enterprises involved in the production of whitening, acne-removal, anti-wrinkle cosmetics are under stringent supervision.

The focus of this inspection is to investigate whether enterprises have applied for record keeping for domestic non-special cosmetics, hygiene and quality of cosmetic products and factory, and the extension and verification of hygiene license for production enterprises of cosmetics.

Through this news, we can get the indication that the government exercises more strict control over domestic non-special cosmetics and their production enterprises.

According to Article 19 in Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulation concerning the Hygiene Supervision over Cosmetics, enterprises producing domestic non-special use cosmetics must apply for record-keeping to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at provincial level within two months after products are placed on the market. It is very different from the administrative licensing for domestic special use cosmetics, imported cosmetics or new cosmetic raw materials, which are allowed to be produced only after they’ve got the approval, namely the hygiene license, from SFDA. Therefore, many cosmetic producers are not self-conscious to apply for the record-keeping certificate within the required period.

Under such circumstances, on April 24, 2011, SFDA published Measures for Record Keeping of Domestic Non-special Use Cosmetics to highlight the necessity and remind producers to carry out the record keeping obligation.

In terms of the hygiene license for production enterprises of cosmetics, since the valid term is four years, companies should file a new application for the license three months prior to the expiry date.

The following regulations may be helpful for your reference:

• Regulations concerning the Hygiene Supervision over Cosmetics
• Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations concerning the Hygiene Supervision over Cosmetics
• Measures for Record Keeping of Domestic Non-special Use Cosmetics
• Requirements for Record Keeping Documents of Domestic Non-Special Use Cosmetics
• Hygiene Standard for Production Enterprises of Cosmetics