We often receive requests for registering a line of cosmetic products in Singapore.

Here is in a Nutshell what You Need to know

There must be a local company in Singapore which is responsible for placing the cosmetic product in the local market. This company registers the respective cosmetic products with HSA, which is the local government agency that is in charge of protecting and advancing the national health and safety.

Before registering the respective cosmetics products with HSA, it is recommended to verify whether the products comply with the official requirements. In other words, each component of each cosmetic product must be compared with the relevant lists of the Asean Cosmetic Directive. There is a Black List, a Gray List, a White List, an Allowed Colouring Agents List, an Allowed Preservatives List, and an Allowed UV Filters List.

Example: 20 Cosmetic Products

As an example, if you have a product line of 20 cosmetic products and if each specific cosmetics products contains an average of 25 ingredients, this translates to 500 formal verifying steps which need to be documented in writing. This has to be done by an experienced person with knowledge about cosmetics.

The next step is filing the 20 applications with HSA. Please note that this will incur some official fees.

After requesting registration, HSA will either raise objections or right away issue an official notification of the registrations. It is recommended to double-check the registrations by comparing them with what has been requested.

The final step is to docket and monitor the renewal deadlines for the registrations, plus initiating the renewals once they become due.

And that is it?

Of course, that is is not all. Upon importing a cosmetics product into Singapore, the importing company – which may be different from the company that owns the HSA registrations – must make sure that the imported cosmetic products comply with what has been registered. Regular random sampling and laboratory tests are recommended, followed by proper documentation.

And what Happens if I am Selling my Cosmetic Products without Proper Registration or if my Cosmetics Products are Different from What has been Registered?

This is not good at all. Your products will be seized. All people involved may get fined and/or go to jail.

Check out this link for more information on that:

http://bit.ly/SG-illegal-products-HSA

By the way, the same applies if you make a wrong statement when registering your cosmetics product with HSA. Being registered there, there is still no guarantee that the cosmetics product complies with the official requirements. The actual importer of the respective cosmetic product and his helpers are still liable for that.

Better check with us (Schweiger & Partners Singapore) if you have any further question, we can also do the registrations for you.