Why do cosmetics sold in China have to have labels in Chinese? What are the requirements for the characters used in Chinese label labeling?

First, cosmetic labels are the primary way to identify and interpret basic information, properties and characteristics of a product, as well as safety warnings, and are a key factor in the purchase of a product by consumers.

The draft regulation on cosmetics supervision and administration was approved by the State Council executive meeting on Jan 3, 2020. On June 29, 2020, the new regulation was officially published and formally implemented on January 1, 2021, requiring cosmetics production and operation activities and their supervision and management within the territory of the People's Republic of China to be subject to the new regulation.

To protect consumers' right to know and options for consumers the correct use of cosmetics and learn the related matters needing attention, the cosmetics supervision and management regulations (hereinafter referred to as the regulations) and the cosmetics label management method "(hereinafter referred to as the" method ") for sale of cosmetics in China must have Chinese labels.

Standard Chinese characters shall be used for the Chinese labels of cosmetics. If the Chinese label uses any characters or symbols other than the standard Chinese characters, the standard Chinese characters shall be used for interpretation and explanation on the same visible side of the product, with the exception of the website, the name and address of overseas enterprises, and the common professional terms which must use additional characters.

Where a registered trademark in the Chinese name of a product uses letters, pinyin, numbers, symbols, etc., its meaning shall be interpreted in the same visual context. The font size of additional characters on the same visible surface of a Chinese label, except for registered trademarks, shall be less than or equal to the corresponding standard font size of Chinese characters. Where the label in Chinese is affixed to the original package in a foreign language, the label in Chinese shall comply with the above requirements.