‘Mandatory Cosmetic Safety Assessment’, An Unavoidable Global Trend
In 2024, as the export value of cosmetics surpasses 10 billion dollars, K-beauty is achieving remarkable success in the global market. However, behind this growth lies a new challenge: the strengthening of cosmetics regulations in various countries abroad. The domestic cosmetics industry also needs to enhance safety to ensure sustainable competitiveness in line with this global trend.
Revision of Domestic Cosmetics Law and Introduction of New System
The revised partial amendment to the Cosmetics Act, announced on December 30, 2025, forecasts significant changes for the domestic cosmetics industry. The key point of the amendment is that cosmetics responsible sellers must prepare and retain safety assessment data for each product before distribution and sale, and it is mandatory to go through a review by a ‘safety assessor’ with related academic background or experience. The purpose is to ensure consumer safety and strengthen the industry’s autonomous quality responsibility. Additionally, a Cosmetics Safety Information Center (tentative name), dedicated to providing technical support and raw materials safety information for cosmetics safety assessment, is set to be designated.
The head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety can request cosmetics responsible sellers to submit safety assessment data if it is deemed harmful to public health. This new system not only strengthens regulations but also serves as a foundation for enhancing quality credibility in the domestic cosmetics industry, thereby solidifying its position in the global market.
Step-by-Step Implementation Roadmap and Global Trends
The safety assessment system, according to the revised Cosmetics Act, will be implemented in phases starting with functional cosmetics on January 1, 2028. The application timing may vary depending on the company size, but from January 1, 2031, it will be expanded to include all cosmetic items. Such safety assessments are already established as an international trend.
Europe has applied the Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) since the mid-2000s, and China has been preparing and implementing related systems since early 2020. The U.S. has strengthened regulations through the Modernization of Cosmetics Law, mandating safety assessments by 2028. Japan, too, has been operating a complete autonomous responsibility system by companies, effectively enforcing safety assessments since the 2000s.
Unique Regulatory Barriers of the Chinese Market
The reason our country has especially started paying attention to cosmetic safety assessments is due to China’s adoption of the system in early 2020. Unlike most countries that use safety assessments as post-regulation, China implements a pre-regulation requiring the submission of safety assessment data to the government and obtaining approval before product production and import. Such stringent regulations have posed significant obstacles for domestic products entering the Chinese market.
China implements a pre-regulation requiring the submission of safety assessment data to the government and obtaining approval before production and import of products.
In the past, domestic cosmetic companies did not pay much attention to safety assessments when exporting products to the U.S., Europe, and Japan because these countries applied safety assessments as a post-management method, not directly affecting product launches. In some cases, companies avoided issues even after problems arose due to poor safety assessment data by discontinuing products. However, it is known that large companies have been preparing and responding to safety assessments for U.S. and European exports before the issue became prominent domestically.
Companies’ Autonomous Responsibility and Consumer Protection
The essence of the cosmetic safety assessment system is that companies themselves judge that cosmetics developed and sold, when verified using scientific knowledge and methods, have no potential harm to consumers, and that they leave the basis for that judgment as data. Legally set safety standards are the minimum devices, and it’s challenging to fully ensure safety only with safety assessments of newly emerging cosmetic raw materials or distribution standards.
The purpose of the system is for the entity developing and researching the product, who can judge its safety most accurately, to evaluate the product comprehensively.
Therefore, companies can record and release products once they receive an evaluation that the product is safe through this process. This is the most proactive form of regulation to protect consumers and an essential step for K-beauty to build continuous trust in the global market.
Key Tasks for Sustainable K-Beauty
The mandatory safety assessment of cosmetics is an essential process for K-beauty to advance as a global powerhouse. It’s a significant opportunity to build trust by companies not only complying with regulations but also confidently verifying product safety and publicly disclosing it to consumers. We anticipate that enhanced standards will lead to safer, more innovative K-beauty products leading the global market.
Now, cosmetic safety assessment has become an essential competitiveness factor for K-beauty. YURICOS will spare no practical support to help companies successfully respond to these changes and lead the global market with trustworthy products.
