1. Improper Claims

Since the beginning of 2022, penalties caused by improper claims of cosmetics have emerged in endlessly. There are many reasons behind this. On the one hand, China is becoming stricter on cosmetic claims; on the other hand, some cosmetics enterprises lack awareness of relevant laws and regulations, for example, cosmetic claims are illegal if

• Normal cosmetics claimed to have special uses;
• Cosmetic enterprises claimed that they produced their cosmetic products cooperating with cooperated with “a university” or “a research institute”;
• Cosmetics claimed to be produced according to the requirements of pharmaceuticals, or medical terminology; or 
• Cosmetics claimed that they can obviously inhibit COVID-19.

According to Article 22 of the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations, the efficacy claims of cosmetics should have sufficient scientific basis. Cosmetic registrants and filers should publish the literature, research data or abstract of product efficacy evaluation materials on a special website specified by the National Administration of Medical Products, and accept social supervision”. Improper claims of cosmetics are mainly reflected in product labelings and advertisings:

Labelings

According to Article 37 of the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations, it is prohibited to label cosmetics with the following contents: contents that express or imply medical effects; false or misleading contents.

Case Study: the actual composition of a whitening and spot lightening repair facial mask is consistent with the registered formula, but the composition marked on the label is inconsistent with the registered formula. According to the registered formula, the product does not contain phenylethyl resorcinol and silicon dioxide, yet the outer packaging of the product is marked with the word “377VC”. The false labeling can mislead consumers and increase sales. The enterprise was fined more than 80,000 yuan.

Advertising

According to Article 43 of the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations, the contents of cosmetic advertising shall be true and legal. Cosmetic advertising shall not express or imply that the products have medical effects, contain false or misleading contents, or deceive and mislead consumers”.

Case Study: one essence claimed that the products had the effect of anti-aging in its advertisement published in Tmall. Its product efficacy is moisturizing, anti wrinkle and soothing, which is not equivalent to “anti-aging”. The company is imposed a fine of 4,000 yuan.

2. Children’s Cosmetics

Children’s cosmetics refer to cosmetics that are suitable for children under the age of 12 (including 12) and have the functions of cleaning, moisturizing, refreshing and sunscreen. Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Children’s Cosmetics were officially implemented from January 1, 2022. The supervision of children’s cosmetics has become the top priority.

According to Article 20 of the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Children’s Cosmetics, when the departments in charge of drug supervision and administration investigates and deal with the illegal acts of children’s cosmetics, they can recognize the illegal acts as serious acts stipulated in the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics in one of the following situations:

• Children’s cosmetics contained ingredients prohibited for the production of cosmetics, or new ingredients that should be registered yet have not been registered;
• Illegal addition of substances that may harm human health in children’s cosmetics.

Case Study: on August 22, 2022, Guangdong Province issued a penalty of lifetime ban, which is the second ban nationwide. According to the public information, the company was imposed a fine of 120,000 yuan for the children’s cosmetics it produced was tested positive with substance that may harm human health. The Cosmetics Production License of the company was revoked, and the application for filing or the administrative license by the company in the coming 10 years will not be accepted as well. The legal representative of the enterprise was fined 108,000 yuan and prohibited from engaging in cosmetics business for life.

3. Cosmetics Labeling

In September, the National Medical Products Administration carried out spot check on cosmetics. A total of 20 batches of cosmetics failed to pass the spot check, mostly hair dye products and sunscreen products. Illegal labeling is one of the main reasons that make products fail the spot check. Details are as follows:

• The product ingredients are inconsistent with that recorded in the product labeling;
• The product labeling is inconsistent with the technical requirements specified in the registration data;
• The product ingredients are inconsistent with the technical requirements specified in the product labeling and registration data.

According to the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations and the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics Production and Operation, the National Medical Products Administration requires the corresponding local medical products authorities to file an investigation on the registrants, filers, entrusted manufacturing enterprises, and domestic responsible persons involved in the above 20 batches of cosmetics, and order the relevant enterprises to immediately take risk control measures according to law and carry out self-examination and rectification.

Other Case Study: In the product formula of “xx hair dye (chestnut brown)”, toluene-2,5-diamine sulfate is not used, but the production record of its “xx hair dye (chestnut brown)” (specification: 100ml/box, batch number: CJ2019031601) product showed that toluene-2,5-diamine sulfate was used as raw material. The enterprise was fined 110,000 yuan.

4. Improper Operation and Management

It is common for enterprises to be punished for improper production, operation and management. It is mainly reflected in the following five aspects:

• Quality management;
• Materials and products;
• Production process management;
• Product sales management;
• Plant and facilities.

Case Study: One company was found violating the cosmetic regulations. In terms of quality management, it failed to effectively operate the quality management system and implement the record management system; In terms of materials and products, there are problems such as failing to conduct incoming raw materials inspection as required, and failing to store raw materials as required; In terms of production process management, production activities were not recorded as required. In order to ensure the safety of public using makeup, the National Medical Products Administration has ordered the enterprise to stop production and put it on file for investigation.

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