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Formula regulatory review for oddball countries
Good Morning, all!I have been a formulator for a very long time and working in this new company I am being asked to see if formulas are compliant for countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Now, I am familiar with most sites, but these are the first that I am having trouble with. I just need help confirming a few things.First, Malaysia and Thailand: you can access banned materials from the ASEAN-Japan chemical safety database. Is there a way to see if they have a list of approved materials for their areas? The one website I found via Google will not load.Second, does Hong Kong fall under China? I can’t find anything for this country via Google.Third, I also cannot find any resource for Singapore.Can you all please weigh in with what you know? I’m struggling here and no, we have no plans for Coptis, Ithos Global, etc., and as we are a very small company I cannot afford an outside service.Thank you in advance! -
5 Replies
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The first document (SGS) is a little old (2014) but says Malaysia and Singapore are also under ASEAN.
“Cosmetics and personal care products in Hong Kong are governed by Chapter 456 of the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance” . This article is also from 2014, their definitions seems loose but focus on proving safety/quality by adopting methods like USA GMP or following EU directives.
Another link I found helpful: https://cleanbeautyasia.com/cosmetics-regulations-in-asia
Just my two cents, but in the end you should think about what costs more- paying a regulatory service now or getting hit with warnings,fines,product recalls, maybe even lawsuits or other legal action because you misread another countries regulatory requirements.
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Hong Kong is ‘officially’ China but has a bunch of privileges. Whether cosmetics fall into that category (economy in general does), I unfortunately don’t know. You could try contacting the embassy and ask there.
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Here are some Singapore regulations for reference @Cheryl2671
https://www.hsa.gov.sg/cosmetic-products/asean-cosmetic-directive -
We are based in Malaysia and can confirm that the best source of info is the ASEAN Cosmetics GuidelinesIn particular, and to answer your question, you should refer to the following Annexes of the ASEAN Cosmetics Guidelines:Annex II: List of Substances which must not form part of the composition of cosmetic productsAnnex III: List of Substances which cosmetic products must not contain except subject to restriction and conditions laid downAnnex IV: List of Colouring Agents allowed for use in cosmetic productsAnnex V: List of Excluded from the scope of the DirectiveAnnex VI: List of Preservatives which cosmetic products may containAnnex VII: List of UV filters which cosmetic products may contain -
Hong Kong is officially part of China, but is an SAR and has its own laws and governance. For China (Mainland) we had to comply with the GB regulations. HK was very different and a lot more relaxed is its regulatory framework.
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