Cosmetic Product Registration in Hong Kong - Overview

With the inflow of visitors from mainland China under the individual visit scheme and the associated growth in Hong Kong’s retail sales, many cosmetic businesses are keen to enter the Hong Kong cosmetic market. For many years, Hong Kong has continued to attract global brands to establish a presence and target mainland customers from China.

Cosmetic product registration in Hong Kong is regulated by the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (CGSO) (Cap 456) and the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO) (Cap 362), enforced by the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department (C&ED). According to the CGSO, cosmetics and consumer goods generally supplied in Hong Kong must comply with the "General Safety Requirement," which imposes a duty on manufacturers, importers, and suppliers to ensure product safety during usage. While conducting cosmetic product safety assessments, C&ED will carry out product testing in accordance with the applicable international safety standards. The Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO) also protects consumers by prohibiting false trade descriptions, false, misleading, and/or incomplete information, and misstatements with respect to the goods provided in the course of trade.

As per the Hong Kong cosmetic regulations, cosmetic notification or cosmetic product registration in Hong Kong is not required for marketing the products. In other words, the market does not have any pre-market approval system, so it is not mandatory to appoint a cosmetics Legal Representative (LR) for Hong Kong.

However, having a local importer/distributor is a prerequisite for importing and/or distributing the products in the country. Therefore, cosmetic product formulation, as well as cosmetic claims, must be compliant with the current regulations. Freyr does a thorough cosmetics ingredient review to ensure they are safe and permitted. Similarly, there must not be any medicinal claims along with false or misleading claims. Only acceptable cosmetic claims as per applicable cosmetic labeling regulations must be displayed.

As a proven Regulatory partner, Freyr has extensive experience in providing cosmetics Regulatory services in Hong Kong. This includes comprehensive product compliance checks comprising formulation reviews, cosmetic label assessments, and cosmetic claims reviews. Our experts with thorough knowledge of cosmetics Regulatory services in Hong Kong can support cosmetic product manufacturers in decoding the cosmetics registration in Hong Kong process and achieving end-to-end compliance with Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (CGSO) regulations.