Govt defers plans for quality check on imported cosmetics

Sets April 2012 as deadline following industry concerns.

The ministry of health and family welfare has once again deferred its plans to have a quality check on imported cosmetics sold in the country.

The new rules, mandating the testing and registration of imported cosmetic products will be operational from April 1, 2012, six months after its earlier deadline of October 1, 2011. The rule, notified in May 2010, had an initial enforcement date of April 1, 2011, and has been extended twice now.

The move turns significant as the domestic cosmetics market, estimated to be Rs 12,000 crore, is seeing increasing penetration of imported cosmetic items. Industry experts say the current size of imported cosmetics business could be about Rs 3,000 crore, or a quarter of the Indian cosmetics market.

According to ministry officials, the extension of the deadline was necessitated to accommodate industry concerns.

The rule, once implemented, will see every foreign cosmetic brand being imported into the country undergoing a mandatory quality testing and registration before receiving the licence for marketing.

The rule prescribes the standards and labelling and packaging requirements for cosmetic products. It also calls for mandatory disclosures such as details of production sites, details of chemical ingredients and global marketing status. For instance, the new rule would have forced cosmetic product makers to withdraw their products from Indian market within 48 hours if they have carried out product withdrawals over quality concerns in any part of the world.

Representatives of the global cosmetic product makers welcomed the government move to register the products but expressed serious reservations against several clauses in the rule.

Naresh Garg, president, Headstart International: Rusk, said, “While we welcome the move, government has gone too far to set out very stringent regulations, which is practically very difficult for the companies to abide. For example, we need to give out details of the chemical formulation of the product and details about all our contract manufacturers and certificates.”

According to him, a company might normally have up to 42 contract manufacturers who might be supplying to many companies. Furnishing details about all these manufacturers is too tough.

“The government seems to have lost its direction in making this mandatory. It has got lost in the brick and mosaic paperwork. It is very difficult to cut across such a red tapism,” Garg said.

Murali Sundar, general manager, Schwarzkopf Professional India (a leading company that provides hair and skin care products to salons), said the new rule would pose a mammoth task to prepare documents and detail out the process.

He, however, welcomed the government move saying it is helpful for “all legal and genuine companies that face stiff competition from illegal traders who import products and sell it in India at a very cheaper price”.

Imported products dominate the salon Industry (hair and skin care) with 60-65 per cent market share of the Rs 500-600 crore segment.

Fragrance business, colour cosmetics and beauty services, among others, are other leading segments. International brands like Calvin Klein, Cartier, Christian Dior, L’Oréal, Oriflame, Revlon and Yardley are active across the country.