Newsletter
AMENDMENT TO COSMETICS LABELING RULES
On 25 December 2006, the Department of Health announced an amendment to the cosmetic label-ling rules as summarized below:
If a product has both external packaging and a container, the product name must be con-spicuously labeled on both.
If a product has both external packaging and a container, those of the following nine items of information that are applicable must be dis-played on the external packaging; if there is no external packaging, they must be marked on the container:
1.name and address of the manufacturer (if the manufacturer is foreign, the name and address may be labeled in a foreign lan-guage, and the address must include the country);
2.name and address of the importer (if the product is imported);
3.net weight or volume of contents;
4.use;
5.method of use;
6.batch number or ex-factory date;
7.full list of ingredients;
8.storage method and shelf life (for hair perming agents, hair dyeing agents, prod-ucts containing enzymes, products con-taining vitamins A, B1, C, or E or deriva-tives thereof, salt-based products, and products with a stable shelf life of less than three years under normal storage condi-tions); and
9.license number (for medicated cosmetics).
In the case of products that must be marked with the storage method and shelf life, this information must be labeled in a manner that is easy for consumers to recognize or judge. If the shelf life is expressed as a number of years, the date of manufacture must also be shown. The date of manufacture or the shelf life may be stated as a year and month.
The required information must be conspicu-ously labeled in the Chinese language, whether by original printing or by added la-beling. Where it is not feasible to appropri-ately label such information in Chinese, it may be expressed by text or symbols in common use internationally. In the case of an imported product, the product name as shown on the internal packaging may be in a foreign lan-guage. If the small physical size of a cosmetic product makes it impossible to label all the above information on the container or pack-aging, the information should be stated on a package insert, but the external packaging (or the container) must display in Chinese at least the product name, use, manufacturer's name and address (if made in Taiwan), importer's name and address (if imported), and license number (for medicated cosmetics).
Minimum Chinese font sizes for labeling the required information are defined.
If a (medicated) cosmetic product contains therapeutic or toxic agents, the names and concentrations of the pharmaceutical ingre-dients, and matters for attention when using the product, must also be stated.
The amended rules will take effect from 1 Janu-ary 2008.