Question & AnswerQ&A (BFD CIRCULAR NO. 07)
The purpose is to establish basic considerations for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guidelines to ensure cosmetic products are safe, of good quality, and capable of delivering claimed benefits, serving as a basic condition for licensing cosmetic manufacturers.
The Joint BFAD-Cosmetic Industry Study Group (JBCISG) approved and adopted the Guiding Principles.
Cosmetic manufacturers are responsible for ensuring products are consistently manufactured to specified quality, safety, performance, and claimed benefits, and must maintain product dossiers for inspection and verification.
Traders and distributors are liable for the quality of cosmetic products they market, must ensure safe and quality products are delivered to trade, maintain product traceability and proper warehousing, and keep product dossiers available for inspection.
The best interest of consumers, including their safety, quality needs, and truthful information, is the topmost priority.
Government agencies are responsible for ensuring manufacturing facilities meet GMP standards, monitoring products from manufacture to the marketplace, and implementing/enforcing cosmetics regulations.
National standards must align with ASEAN and global regulations, recognizing cultural, political, and religious diversities, and promote information exchange for harmonization.
They serve as resources for scientific, technical, and trade knowledge, facilitate information exchange, and disseminate updates on trends and issues to all sectors concerned.
Products must be safe under expected, recommended, customary use, and reasonably foreseeable misuse conditions.
A product profile must be made available to consumers providing truthful and adequate information about the product.