China
The rapid development of China’s economy has led to sustained improvement in peoples' standards of living and has seen it become a big target for cosmetics manufacturers and ingredient suppliers.
The cosmetics industry in China is governed by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) and has seen many changes to the regulatory framework covering labeling, hygiene requirements, as well as other technical guidelines, designed to make it more similar to the rules and regulations in the EU and US.
Products are classified into ordinary cosmetics, used for hair care, skin care, fragrances, nail/toe cosmetics, and cosmetics for special use, ie. If it is not considered as an ‘ordinary’ product.
All ordinary cosmetics need notification to the SFDA and special use cosmetics require administrative approval before market entry.
In addition, cosmetics containing a new cosmetic ingredient not previously approved for the Chinese market require separate a pre-approval from the SFDA before it can be introduced in cosmetic products destined for the Chinese market.
However, the SFDA has recently reclassified the definition of ‘special use’ and ‘ordinary’ cosmetics, which covers more specific issues such as cosmetics products using nanotechnology or gene technology.