China has passed new regulations banning brands from marketing beauty products as having medical benefits.
The regulations passed by China’s Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) aim to stamp out the practice in China and bring the country in line with global FDA standards, according to Jing Daily.
In response to the change in regulations, Taobao issued a notice to sellers stating searches for “medical cosmetics” would be blocked on the website and a number of Chinese e-commerce sites have also blocked searches.
It comes at a crucial time for the medical cosmetics industry in China which was worth $9.7 bn (RMB 65.2bn) in 2017, up from $3.4 billion (RMB 23 billion) in 2013.
The new laws will bring the market in line with other countries and will put pressure on brands to ensure translations of language and terminology are correct and keeping with the guidelines.
Last year, luxury cosmetics brand La Mer was accused of false advertising in China by a beauty blogger. The blogger called out the brand’s marketing for claiming a product could restore skin and help heal burn scars.
