Korean Ministry notifies WTO that it intends to amend cosmetics regulation for imports

By Andrew MCDOUGALL

- Last updated on GMT

Korean Ministry notifies WTO that it intends to amend cosmetics regulation for imports

Related tags International trade

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it intends to amend quality control regulation with regards to imported cosmetics as an issue of health and safety.

The notification outlines proposed amendments to ‘The Regulation on the Exemption of Quality Control Test in Imported Cosmetics’ in 5 pages (in Korean).

Main points

In its notification, the MFDS says “the clause for revoking of exemption of quality inspections will be deleted as there is no legal basis in the Cosmetic Act,”​ relating to the 2011 document.

The Korean Ministry’s notification continues, explaining that in cases of non-conformity as the result of post-market authorization for overseas manufacturers of imported cosmetics, it will impose corrective measures.

The explanation given about the objective and rationale behind this notification, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable, is for “protection of human health and safety.”

At present there is no proposed date of adoption or of entry into force, but the proposed amendments are open for comments until 8 March, 2015.

Revisions over the years

Last year, the MFDS released revised rules for labelling and advertising of cosmetics, taking effect from 1 Mar 2014, which initially applied to imported cosmetics.

For imported cosmetic labelled and promoted in foreign languages, it said that companies need to amend the labelling information accordingly and prevent labels from being damaged or falling off during circulation.

The aim of the updated guidelines was to discourage the false promotion of cosmetics while also improving the credibility of the domestic cosmetic market.

Korean labelling on primary cosmetic packages is required for domestic products under the KPCA; and for imported cosmetics, a Korean label must be placed over the original label on secondary packages.

Labelling requirements for importers include retail price, country of origin, importer, importer’s address, batch codes and date of manufacture. 

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