I. Complete Safety Assessment of Cosmetics

After May 1, 2025, all cosmetics registrants and filers must submit a complete safety assessment report that meets the requirements when applying for product registration or filing. In connection with the complete safety assessment, the China National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) has issued multiple related announcements, and local drug administration bureaus have released several Q&A guides:

- On February 9, 2025, the China National Institute for Food and Drug Control (hereinafter referred to as the NIFDC) issued a notice on updating the "Information on the Use of Ingredients in Listed Products" and related Q&A. The newly released "Information on the Use of Ingredients in Listed Products" has sorted and analyzed the ingredient information of cosmetics that are registered and filed in China, updating it to 3,608 ingredients with 7,672 usage information entries. It has also added application sites such as body hair and fingernails/toenails, and optimized the principles for reference use.

- On April 10, 2025, the NIFDC issued a notice on the "Information on the Use of Certain Ingredients Included in the International Cosmetic Ingredient Safety Assessment Data Index" and related Q&A. The "Ingredient Information in the International Index" includes 999 ingredients with 2,879 usage information entries, further enriching the reference data for cosmetic ingredients.

In addition, local drug administration bureaus in Beijing, Guangzhou, Ningxia, Hainan, Jiangsu, Anhui, and other places have issued relevant Q&A guides and policy interpretations on the safety assessment of cosmetics, providing guidance and support for enterprises.

II. Cosmetic Ingredients

- On February 6, 2025, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) issued the Announcement on Several Provisions for Supporting the Innovation of Cosmetic Ingredients (Announcement No. 12 of 2025) and related policy interpretations. The annex contains nine measures. The first to fifth measures mainly propose specific requirements and mechanisms for the management of new ingredient registration and filing, guidance services, and monitoring period management. The sixth to ninth measures mainly focus on consolidating the foundation for innovation in terms of ingredient standard management, basic research, and informatization.

On March 27, 2025, the NIFDC released the Draft Technical Guidelines for the Update of Filing Information of New Cosmetic Ingredients and its drafting explanation, guiding enterprises to standardize the update of filing information and related research work for new cosmetic ingredients.

On May 9, 2025, the NIFDC issued a notice on the launch of a functional module for the synchronized declaration of new cosmetic ingredients and related products. This further implements the requirements of the NMPA's Announcement on Several Provisions for Supporting the Innovation of Cosmetic Ingredients, and improves the efficiency of the review and approval of new ingredients and cosmetics. The NIFDC optimized the intelligent declaration and review system for cosmetics, adding a functional module for the synchronized declaration of new cosmetic ingredients and related products. Through this module, registrants and filers of new cosmetic ingredients and related products can submit registration applications for special cosmetics using the new ingredients at the same time as the registration and filing of the new cosmetic ingredients.

On June 24, 2025, the NMPA issued an announcement on the management of the Catalogue of Used Cosmetic Ingredients, adjusting the management measures for the catalogue. The catalogue is divided into two lists: List I and List II. List I is based on the 2021 version of the catalogue and has been revised and improved. It no longer retains the item "maximum historical usage in products," standardizes ingredient names, and adjusts the content of notes. List II includes two new ingredients, "N - Acetylneuraminic Acid" and "β Alanine - Hydroxyproline - Diaminobutyl - Benzylamine," both of which have completed a three - year safety monitoring period and meet regulatory requirements. The NMPA has established a dynamic adjustment mechanism for the catalogue, which will be updated based on scientific research progress, industry development, and regulatory realities. From the date of the announcement, the catalogue will no longer be released in the form of an announcement. The updated catalogue and adjustment explanations can be queried through the official website of the NMPA.

On June 24, 2025, the NIFDC issued two technical guidelines, the Trial Guidelines for the Research and Judgment of the Safety Usage History of New Cosmetic Ingredients and the Trial Guidelines for the Research and Judgment of the Safety Edible History of New Cosmetic Ingredients. These two guidelines were formulated to implement the NMPA's Announcement on Several Provisions for Supporting the Innovation of Cosmetic Ingredients and to provide technical guidance for the determination and classification research of new ingredients.

On June 24, 2025, the NIFDC released a notice on the public solicitation of opinions on nine cosmetic standards, including the Draft General Principles of Physicochemical Inspection Methods, which includes standards for specific ingredients, such as the inspection methods for six ingredients including cannabidiol (CBD) in cosmetics, general technical requirements for biotechnological ingredients, general technical requirements for plant - derived ingredients, and technical requirements for ingredients such as Centella asiatica extract, tripeptide - 1 copper, and acetyl hexapeptide - 8 in cosmetics.

III. Cosmetic Regulation

On April 9, 2025, the NMPA issued the Measures for the Administration of Cosmetics Safety Risk Monitoring and Evaluation. The so - called cosmetics safety risk monitoring and evaluation refers to the activities of the drug supervision and administration department to monitor the risk factors that may affect the quality and safety of cosmetics and to analyze and effectively deal with the discovered risk factors. The measures will come into effect from August 1, 2025.

On May 6, 2025, the NIFDC released the 2024 Annual Cosmetics Review Report, which summarized the 2024 cosmetics review work from seven aspects. According to the report, the number of applications for the registration of special cosmetics and the number of approvals both increased in 2024. The filing of domestic cosmetics accounted for a high proportion, and the enthusiasm of enterprises for going global was high (the number of filings for export - only general cosmetics in 2024 increased by 34.9% compared with 2023). In 2024, the NMPA accepted two applications for the registration of new cosmetic ingredients, one domestic and one imported, and approved one imported new ingredient registration. There were 90 new ingredients filed and publicized.

On May 20, 2025, the NMPA issued the 2024 National Cosmetics Sampling Inspection Annual Report. According to the annual report, the national drug supervision and administration departments organized sampling inspections of 12 categories of cosmetics, including acne - claimed products, toothpaste, general skin - care products, color cosmetics, whitening and freckle - removing products, and children's products. A total of 21,362 batches of products were sampled. After inspection by 33 cosmetic inspection institutions based on the Cosmetics Safety Technical Specifications (2015 Edition), 20,889 batches of products met the regulations, accounting for 97.79%.

Domestic Cosmetics Sampling: In the first half of 2025, the NMPA conducted a series of strict sampling inspections of the domestic cosmetics market. As of June 30, 2024, the NMPA had issued eight sampling notices in the first half of the year, covering 221 batches of non - compliant products. Among them, 193 batches of cosmetics did not meet the regulations, and 28 batches of cosmetics were found to contain banned ingredients. Masks, hair - dyeing products, and hair - care products were reported more frequently. The main reasons for non - compliance were: the components detected in the products were inconsistent with the technical requirements specified in the product registration documents; microbial over - limit; and over - limit of the mixture of methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone with magnesium chloride and magnesium nitrate.

Cosmetics Not Allowed to Enter: The General Administration of Customs of China published information on cosmetics not allowed to enter from January to May 2025. A total of 21 batches of cosmetics were found to be substandard and not allowed to enter at the port - of - entry supervision stage by customs nationwide.

IV. Cosmetic Inspection Methods and Standards

On January 22, 2025, the NIFDC released the draft "In Vitro Skin Absorption Test" and other nine test methods and their drafting explanations. Among the nine test methods, four are non - animal toxicological test methods, involving eye irritation/corrosion tests, skin sensitization tests, and transdermal absorption tests.

On April 30, 2025, the NMPA issued the Announcement on the Determination of Methylprednisolone in Cosmetics (Announcement No. 47 of 2025). This method is applicable to the qualitative and quantitative determination of methylprednisolone in ointments, creams, emulsions, liquids (water, oil), gels, muds, and mask - type cosmetics.

On May 7, 2025, the NMPA issued a notice on the inclusion of seven methods, including the inspection method for hard particles in toothpaste, into the Cosmetics Safety Technical Specifications (2015 Edition) (Announcement No. 18 of 2025), which will be implemented from March 1, 2026. Among them, five new inspection methods were added: the inspection method for hard particles in toothpaste, the inspection method for diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in toothpaste, the inspection method for soluble fluoride and free fluoride in toothpaste, the inspection method for total fluoride in toothpaste, and the in vitro skin sensitization ARE - Nrf2 luciferase LuSens test method. Two inspection methods were revised: the inspection method for 43 elements including lithium in cosmetics and the inspection method for 43 elements including lithium in toothpaste, replacing the original inspection methods in the Cosmetics Safety Technical Specifications (2015 Edition).

On May 6, 2025, the NIFDC issued a notice on the second call for suggestions on the 2025 cosmetic standard projects. This call focuses on four major directions: First, ingredient standards, with priority given to ingredients with large usage, high safety risks, and new ingredients; second, management requirements for banned, restricted, and permitted ingredients, in combination with international regulations and domestic usage; third, urgently needed inspection methods for supervision, with sufficient reasons or explanations for non - applicability provided; and fourth, the conversion of international standards, focusing on urgent and mature international standards needed by the industry.

- On June 24, 2025, the NIFDC released a notice on the public solicitation of opinions on nine cosmetic standards, including three inspection test methods: the Draft General Principles of Physicochemical Inspection Methods, the draft Skin Sensitization: Local Lymph Node Assay: BrdU - FCM, and the draft Toxicokinetics Test Method.

The recommended national standards released in the first half of 2025 include:

GB/T 45212 - 2025 Determination of Methyl Dibromoglutaronitrile in Cosmetics by Gas Chromatography

GB/T 45213 - 2025 Determination of Amikacin, Bupivacaine, and Procaine in Cosmetics by Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Revision plan 20250403 - T - 607 for the Determination of Glucocorticoids in Cosmetics by Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Thin - Layer Chromatography

According to the National Group Standard Information Platform, 46 group standards related to cosmetics were released in the first half of 2025.

V. Final Words

The ZMUni Compliance Center has observed that in the first half of 2025, the dynamics of cosmetic regulations have continued to focus on product safety and innovative development. From the more than ten cosmetic announcements issued by the authorities, it is evident that the government is strongly promoting the development of China's cosmetic industry towards standardization and high - quality growth. We believe that more "new regulations" will be introduced in the second half of the year. We welcome you to continue to follow the ZMUni Compliance Center to stay updated on the dynamics of domestic and international cosmetic regulations in real - time!