Interpretation of the Announcement of the National Medical Products Administration on Matters Concerning Cosmetic Registration and Filing

The following is a translation of the policy interpretation published by the Guangdong Medical Products Administration on July 30, 2026, regarding the NMPA Announcement on Cosmetic Registration and Filing (2026 No. 70).

1. Background and purpose: On November 17, 2025, the NMPA issued the Opinions on Deepening Cosmetic Regulatory Reform and Promoting High-Quality Industry Development (Guo Yao Jian Zhuang [2025] No. 18), which proposed measures to improve registration and filing efficiency, encourage first launches of new cosmetics in China, optimize documentation, and improve technical review. This Announcement implements those reforms.

2. Principles: The Announcement follows the principles of law-based administration, scientific regulation, and broad consultation.

3. Optimization measures:
– Encourage first launches of international new cosmetics in China: For foreign new products that meet requirements, the submission of proof of marketing authorization in the country of origin may be exempted.
– Reduce animal testing: For perming products, non-oxidative hair dyes, physical depigmenting/whitening products, and ordinary cosmetics using new ingredients (excluding children’s cosmetics), toxicological test reports may be waived if the production quality management system certificate and safety assessment data confirm product safety.
– Raw material safety information: When registering or filing cosmetics and toothpaste, companies no longer need to fill in the raw material safety information file and submission code; relevant materials are kept for inspection.
– Sharing of safety and efficacy data: For products with similar formulations from the same registrant/filer and brand, one representative product can be tested, and other products can share the test reports.
– Cross-border production transfer: When re-registering due to change of production site, except for microbial and physicochemical test reports, other data can be reused from the original application.
– Expanded efficacy evaluation methods: For claims other than depigmenting/whitening, sunscreen, and anti-hair loss, companies can choose their own test methods for efficacy evaluation.
– Simplified change of domestic responsible person: No need to submit the original responsible person’s consent letter.

4. For international new products launching first in China, a commitment statement can be provided instead of proof of prior marketing authorization.

5. To waive animal testing data, companies must provide a production quality management system certificate issued by the competent authority of the manufacturing country (e.g., China’s cosmetics production license), and the safety assessment must confirm product safety.

6. For raw material safety information kept for inspection, companies must still submit quality specifications or test reports for raw materials as required by technical documents. Changes to raw material manufacturers or quality specifications must be updated via the registration/filing platform or applied for change as appropriate.

7. For similar formulation products produced at different sites, each site must select at least one representative product for microbial and physicochemical testing; toxicological and human safety test reports can be shared.