Can serums and essences be exported to China as ordinary cosmetics?

Q: Can serums and essences be exported to China as ordinary cosmetics?

Yes. Serums and essences can be exported to China as ordinary cosmetics when their use is moisturizing, soothing, anti-wrinkle, oil-control or another listed ordinary efficacy. The word “serum” has no special legal status in China. A whitening serum must be registered; a serum with SPF must be registered as a sunscreen; a hair-growth serum is not a cosmetic.

Published 11 November 2026 · Updated 11 November 2026

How to judge the path

Map every claim to the classification catalogue before you file. Antioxidant marketing is not itself a listed efficacy name, so the supporting Chinese claims should be ones you can justify, such as anti-wrinkle or moisturizing, without slipping into medical language.

See whitening serums, vitamin C serums and retinol skincare.

Typical documents, tests and labels

If the product remains ordinary, Testing and ordinary cosmetics filing may proceed in parallel. The ordinary filing cycle is about 10–20 days in total, depending on completeness and supplementary requests. That timing applies only to ordinary cosmetics filing, never to special cosmetics registration and not as a guaranteed import timeline. For general-trade import of a finished product, complete the required filing or registration before import, appoint a Domestic Responsible Person, and apply a Chinese label that meets the Cosmetics Labeling Rules. Customs and inspection-quarantine formalities are a separate process. Cross-border e-commerce retail import is a different channel with list, platform and personal-use limits; it is not a blanket “no filing” rule and not a path to unrestricted domestic resale. Jinshang Testing organizes the compliance work. Testing is coordinated with partner laboratories, and those laboratories issue the reports they perform. After a record is issued, check it on the official NMPA filing query https://hzpba.nmpa.gov.cn/gccx/ and the NMPA data-search page https://datasearch.nmpa.gov.cn/datasearch/home-index.html#category=hzp.

Cautions

High-active formulas still need every ingredient to be usable in cosmetics at the intended level, with a safety assessment that matches leave-on facial use.

Questions we are often asked

Does “clinical strength” make it a drug?

The phrase is risky if it implies medical treatment. China does not use a “cosmeceutical” category. Keep the product clearly inside cosmetic claims or assess it as a drug or device instead.

Can I file one serum and sell several “boosters” in the same bottle story?

Each independently sold formula is generally its own filing. A dropper sold only to be mixed into one named product should be classified according to how the combination is actually presented.