The China Food and Drug Administration ("CFDA") has recently issued the Announcement on Matters Concerning Implementation of the Pilot Program for Record-filing Administration of Imported Cosmetics for Non-special Purposes in Wider Areas (the "Announcement").
The Announcement states that the pilot program for record-filing administration of imported cosmetics for non-special purposes will apply more extensively to another ten free trade zones located in Tianjin, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Fujian, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Chongqing, Sichuan and Shaanxi. From the date the Announcement is released until December 21, 2018, any cosmetics used for non-special purposes imported for the first time through ports in any of the said ten pilot free trade zones, will be subject to administration of record-filing, instead of the current approval administration, provided that the domestic party responsible for these imported cosmetics is registered in such pilot free trade zone. According to the Announcement, the manufacturer of imported cosmetics shall, prior to the import of these products, entrust the domestic party in charge of imports to go through record-filing formalities on the national unified platform called the Record-filing Administration System for Imported Cosmetics for Non-special Purposes; and the import trade shall not forge ahead until the electronic record-filing certificate has been obtained.