China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has revised its rules on new cosmetic ingredients, reducing data requirements and simplifying approval procedures.
The changes to registration, filing and data requirements for new cosmetic ingredients, announced on 26 June, will come into force on 15 July.
Currently, cosmetic ingredients that do not appear on the Inventory of Existing Cosmetic Chemical Ingredients in China (IECIC) are treated as new ingredients and must be registered or filed before they can be used in cosmetic products.
Under the revised rules, companies will have to submit less information when registering or filing new cosmetic ingredients, while technical requirements will be set out in separate guidance documents.
Five categories of "high-risk" new cosmetic ingredients – preservatives, sunscreens, colourants, hair dyes and whitening/spot-removing ingredients – will be subject to registration management. However, new ingredients used for hair loss prevention, anti-wrinkle, dandruff removal, acne treatment and deodorisation are no longer considered "high-risk" and will require only a filing notification.
The revised rules also allow alternative ingredient testing methods, enabling companies to use internationally accepted methods.
The process for changing a domestic responsible person (DRP) for imported cosmetic ingredients has been simplified, and companies no longer need to submit a 'Letter of Informed Consent' stamped by the original DRP or a court judgment.