Korea Cosmetics Act 2025–26: overseas direct purchase plus a multi-year safety-assessment path

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June 30, 2025

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화장품법 및 하위 규정 / MFDS Cosmetics regulations (English list)

Official date: 2025-06-30
Official URL: MFDS — Cosmetics regulations (English list)

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Official source. MFDS cosmetics regulations list

Key points

Cosmetics Act + Safety Standards remain the core instruments.
2025 amendments address overseas direct-purchase information and controls — read the Korean enforcement rule, not only English recaps.
Safety-assessment reform is staged; USITC/trade notes describe 2028 starts for larger firms and later full application — verify against MFDS notices.

Dates. Act amendments from April 2025 onward; safety-assessment staging into 2028–2031. Confirm each notice.

Verify in the official text. Whether your Korean entity is already in a 2026 pilot or only in a later cohort.

Open questions. Confirm any transitional stock rules and whether your exact INCI / product type is named. This desk brief is a prioritisation aid, not a legal determination.

What changed: Korea moved on cross-border cosmetics and started a multi-year safety-assessment build.

Who is affected: Korean responsible sellers, importers, and brands selling via platforms into Korea.

Suggested next steps: Ask the Korean seller which 2025 notices they implemented. Diary 2028 for assessment capacity.

Korea’s 2025 Cosmetics Act work has two SME-visible pieces: tighter handling of cosmetics bought directly from overseas, and a longer plan for safety-assessment reports (pilot 2026–27, phased 2028, fuller later).
If you only sell through a Korean responsible seller, the overseas-purchase rules are still relevant because they change how grey-market stock is policed.
If you are the responsible seller, start budgeting assessment capacity — but do not pretend every SME has a 2026 mandate until the Korean notice says so.
Confirm dates on mfds.go.kr (Korean text wins).

Official text

English translation — the official-language text prevails

English orientation from MFDS’s English regulations list. The Korean Cosmetics Act, Enforcement Decree/Rule and Safety Standards notices prevail.

South Korea regulates cosmetics under the Cosmetics Act, administered by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). Responsible sellers, functional-cosmetic evaluation, and the Regulation on Safety Standards (prohibited and restricted ingredient lists) are the daily instruments.

2025 amendments address, among other things, information and controls for cosmetics purchased directly from overseas. MFDS has also signalled a multi-year build-out of product safety-assessment reports (pilot activity in 2026–2027, phased application from around 2028, fuller later). Those staging dates must be confirmed in the Korean notices — English trade summaries are not the legal calendar.

Korea is not an ASEAN-style single notification market. Functional claims change the file.

Korea Cosmetics Act 2025–26: overseas direct purchase plus a multi-year safety-assessment path

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