New law may regulate cosmetics

NEWDELHI: In a bid to crack down on illegally manufactured and imported cosmetics, the government has come up with new draft rules that prohibit manufacture, sale, distribution and import of cosmetics that are not approved for use in India.

“There were no separate rules for cosmetics as these were part of the Drugs and Cosmetics rules. Now we have separated the two,” said S Eswara Reddy, drug controller general of India.

The draft rules are open to public comment for 45 days. As part of the new draft rules, it is mandatory to obtain a licence from the central licensing authority for manufacturing, sale and distribution of any new cosmetics.

“In case of a new cosmetic, the applicant shall obtain prior permission… from the central licensing authority and no licence to manufacture any cosmetic shall be granted by the state licencing authority without such permission,” the gazette notification said.

It would be mandatory to seek approval from the central licencing authority before registering for import. However, if the product is banned in the country of origin then it cannot be imported into India.

The rules also ban testing cosmetic products on animals in the country, as well as the import of products that have been tested on animals.

The Union health ministry’s Central Drugs and Standards Control Organisation’s intelligence wing conducted raids at 30 locations in eight states for illegal imports and manufacture of certain cosmetics in October this year.

It seized goods worth ₹4 crore that included stem cell based cosmetics and serums.