EcoMundo and Beauty Cluster Barcelona: exporting cosmetics to Asia

Registering your cosmetic products in Asia

The question of Asia

Considered as the global laboratory for beauty, Asia is an ever more appealing region for the cosmetic industry.

Last Tuesday, EcoMundo intervened in the conference organised by Beauty Cluster Barcelona on the registration of cosmetic products in different Asian countries. Our experts presented the various regulations and requirements supervising the marketing and manufacturing of cosmetic products.

Their presentation focused on three regions:

• ASEAN (free trade area composed of 10 South-East Asian countries) ASEAN (free trade area composed of 10 South-East Asian countries)
• Japan
• South Korea

ASEAN, Japan, South Korea: key points of EcoMundo’s presentation

If the necessity to register cosmetic products is the same in many countries, some requirements are specific to each country. In ASEAN for example, even though there is a global cosmetic directive, member countries have different obligations. For instance, some products considered cosmetics in one country can be excluded of the regulation in another. Additionally, the notification is done per country.

Moreover, extra documentation can be requested depending on the export country. The same applies for authorised claims and ingredients. Just like ASEAN, Japan and Korea have their own specificities and requirements. It is thus essential to be compliant with all these regulations in order to ensure the marketing of your cosmetic products in all the countries you wish to export to.

EcoMundo’s experts’ presentation raised some questions in the audience – which was composed of professionals from the cosmetic industry, manufacturers as well as exporters – in particular on practical cases relating to their own situations. The themes that were addressed were mostly those of the countries’ specificities and the categorisation of borderline products that are straddling multiple regulations (“quasi-drugs”, in particular).

Spain: a key partner

Beauty Cluster Barcelona is a Spanish association composed of 170 companies of the beauty industry aiming at promoting the growth and competitiveness of its members. Since the cluster is EcoMundo’s partner, our experts had already presented a conference in Barcelona last year on the subject of cosmetics and OTC products in the United States.

Spain is a key market of the cosmetic sector: with a steady growth over the past 4 years, the Spanish cosmetics market is the 5th largest in Europe. On perfumes only, Spain is the 2nd largest world exporter, just behind France.

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