China’s new cosmetics safety rules: Brands have until 2028. Some less

What happened China released its first mandatory national standard for cosmetics safety on August 6, replacing rules that have governed the industry for nearly four decades. Cosmetics — General Safety Requirements (GB 7916—2026), issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and drafted under the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), will take effect on January 1, 2028, when the 1987 Hygienic Standard for Cosmetics is formally retired. How a 1.1 trillion RMB beauty industry outgrew its regulatory framework The country’s cosmetics industry has changed dramatically since the previous standard was introduced in 1987. China had just over 70 cosmetics manufacturers in 1980; today it has more than 6,000. In 2025, the cosmetics industry surpassed 1.1 trillion RMB ($153 billion) in market value, up 2.8% year-on-year. The Jing Take It sets general, raw-material and product requirements, and specifies rules for packaging materials, labeling, storage and transportation. Storage and transportation are new to this revision, as are implementation requirements and a set of added terms and definitions. More importantly for companies, it formalizes a more risk-based approach to compliance. Eight heavy metal limits and testing that tracks formulation At the same time, the standard sets limits for eight harmful substances, including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium. It also lets testing track formulation: where a product uses raw materials that could introduce methanol, dioxane, asbestos or benzene, those limits become the focus, and where it does not, companies can narrow the pre-market testing panel accordingly. Prohibited substances cannot be intentionally used as cosmetic ingredients, but technically unavoidable traces introduced as impurities may be permitted if they remain within specified limits. Where no limit exists, companies must demonstrate through a safety assessment that the trace amount poses no harm to human health. The distinction addresses a longstanding practical problem for manufacturers. Modern supply chains cannot always guarantee absolute zero detection of naturally occurring heavy metals or trace contaminants. At the same time, the standard sets limits for eight harmful substances, including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium, while allowing testing requirements to be more closely linked to whether a formulation actually uses ingredients associated with particular contaminants. How GB 7916-2026 moves China’s cosmetics regulation closer to the EU The framework also brings China closer to international cosmetics regulation, particularly the European Union. The standard draws on the EU Cosmetics Regulation (EC No 1223/2009) in areas including product safety responsibility, safety assessment and the management of technically unavoidable trace substances, while its microbiological requirements are aligned with ISO 17516:2014. The direction is significant for Chinese beauty companies looking overseas: closer regulatory alignment could reduce some of the technical gaps between products developed for China and those destined for international markets, even though meeting the Chinese standard does not itself guarantee EU compliance. Where regulators see greater exposure risk, however, requirements are tightening. Cosmetics for children aged 12 and under, alongside products applied to the skin around the eyes, the eyelashes and the lips, face a total microbial count limit of 100 CFU/g or CFU/mL — a tenth of the 1,000 allowed in ordinary cosmetics, and a 50th of the 500 these categories are held to now. Why the children’s beauty runway ends a year before 2028 That limit does not wait for 2028. NMPA folded it into the Safety and Technical Standards in January under Announcement 2026 No. 6, and it takes effect on January 1, 2027. GB 7916-2026 gives the figure the force of a mandatory national standard, but brands in these categories are working to a deadline roughly a year ahead of the headline date. For children’s beauty, that compresses the runway across formulation, manufacturing conditions, quality control and packaging. Yan Jiangying, chair of the China Association of Fragrance, Flavour and Cosmetic Industries, told Beijing Youth Daily the ISO limit covers cosmetics for children under 3, while the Chinese standard extends it to all children 12 and under. What the transition period means for smaller manufacturers and outsourced production The transition period — roughly 17 months — should soften the immediate impact elsewhere. Products manufactured or imported before January 1, 2028 can continue to be sold until their expiration date, and many of the technical requirements already exist in China’s current regulatory framework. For established domestic and international groups, the bigger change is therefore not necessarily higher compliance costs, but a clearer regulatory baseline. Smaller manufacturers and brands reliant on outsourced production may face more pressure, particularly in higher-risk categories where quality-control capabilities will become harder to separate from competitive advantage. China’s beauty industry was built under a regulatory system designed when the domestic market was a fraction of its current size. GB 7916-2026 reflects what it has become: a trillion-RMB industry where safety standards are moving closer to the center of how products are developed, manufactured and brought to market. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

China’s new cosmetics safety rules: Brands have until 2028. Some less

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China’s new cosmetics safety rules: Brands have until 2028. Some less

How Bottega Veneta weaved China’s forever it bag