China cosmetic ingredient regulations

Every Chinese record on this site is a prohibition. That is a property of the source, not a gap in the import: the catalogue we hold names raw materials that may not be used in cosmetics, and says nothing about the ones that may.

The list that formulators most often reach for instead is the IECIC — the Inventory of Existing Cosmetic Ingredients in China. It is worth being precise about what that inventory is, because its name invites the wrong reading. IECIC records that an ingredient has been used in cosmetics in China, and under what maximum historical use. It is not an approval, it does not carry a safety finding, and being listed does not settle whether a particular use is acceptable. A substance outside it is treated as a new cosmetic raw material and needs registration or filing before it can be used at all.

The Cosmetic Supervision and Administration Regulation, in force since 2021, sits above both. It is the instrument that makes the distinction matter, by splitting raw materials into those subject to registration and those subject to filing according to risk.

The Chinese-language publications are authoritative. NMPA also publishes English material, and it is useful for orientation rather than for a compliance decision — where the two differ, the Chinese text governs.