Cosmetics

Registration or filing is measured in months, and it runs before the shipment rather than alongside it. The most common planning error in this category is treating it as a customs step at the end rather than a regulatory step at the beginning.

This is checked against the ingredient rules before anything ships. Where an ingredient is not permitted, the answer is a formulation or product-selection decision on your side; it is not something that can be resolved at the border.

Yes, and the category is wider than most brands expect. It covers products for children aged twelve and under, but also any product labelled as suitable for the whole family, any colour cosmetic marketed for family use, and anything stating it can be used by children. The category follows the claim rather than the intended customer, so inclusive marketing copy can move an adult product into the children’s regime without a formulation change. Children’s sun protection products are special cosmetics needing a registration certificate; the little gold shield mark and an adult-supervision warning are required; and food-related presentation — food grade, edible, food imagery — is prohibited.

No. That filing was abolished with effect from 1 January 2022. The domestic consignee now needs only the ordinary customs consignor and consignee filing. It is worth checking your process against this, because it is a step many plans still include.

Worth re-examining. Since 1 May 2025 the historical maximum use levels in the 2021 inventory can no longer serve as the basis for a safety assessment, so recommended addition levels bound to older ingredient codes have lapsed. The registrant or filer is the first responsible party and is expected to hold the substantive documentation — source evidence appropriate to the ingredient type, and audit records for the supplier who provided it.