What documents are needed to import cosmetics into China

Q: What documents are needed to import cosmetics into China

To import cosmetics into mainland China through general trade, you typically need the basic registration or filing dossier—company information, product name, formula or full ingredients, product executive standard, Chinese label artwork, test reports and safety-assessment materials—plus imported-product documents: original overseas packaging and a Chinese translation, proof of overseas marketing unless an exception applies, Domestic Responsible Person authorization, and manufacturing-relationship papers if a factory produces the product for the brand.

Published 11 November 2026 · Updated 11 November 2026

How to judge which list applies

The Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation lists the core materials for registration or filing. The Provisions on Management of Cosmetics Registration and Filing Dossiers spell out how those materials are prepared. Special cosmetics add category-specific tests. Children’s cosmetics add extra labelling and assessment expectations. The import extras sit on top of, not instead of, that core list.

What to prepare

Identity and contact details of the registrant or filer and of the manufacturer.
Product name information, formula or full ingredient list, and the product executive standard.
Chinese label artwork, consistent with the standard and with the original packaging.
Inspection reports from a qualified laboratory and safety-assessment materials under current rules.
Original sales packaging (including inserts) and a complete Chinese translation of the foreign-language label.
Proof of marketing issued by a competent authority or industry association in the country of the filer or the country of manufacture, unless a legal exception applies.
Authorization of the Domestic Responsible Person, and contract-manufacturing documents where relevant.
Quality-system certificates for the manufacturer when they are used to support a toxicology waiver.

Cautions

Translations should be complete, including warnings. Do not strengthen claims in Chinese that the original label does not support. Whether notarization or legalization is needed follows the rules and system requirements in force at the time. Ingredient “submission codes” are not a service we market; under NMPA Announcement No. 70 of 2026, raw-material safety information is kept on file by the company rather than entered as a submission code in the system.

Questions we are often asked

Do special cosmetics need extra documents beyond this list?

Yes. They need the category-specific safety or efficacy studies required for registration, and they generally use a full safety-assessment report.

Can design artwork replace overseas packaging?

In ordinary cases you submit the actual overseas sales packaging. NMPA Announcement No. 70 of 2026 allows design drawings of the country-of-manufacture sales packaging for certain China-first or simultaneous launches that meet the announcement’s conditions.