Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Successful Hosting of ‘2024 One Asia Cosmetics Beauty Forum’… Strengthening Communication and Cooperation with Asian Regulatory Authorities

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Commissioner Oh Yoo-kyung) announced that it successfully concluded the ‘2024 One Asia Cosmetics Beauty Forum’ held in Ilsan from October 17 to October 19 under the theme of ‘Future Cosmetics Technology Innovation and Solidarity.’

This forum was held for the first time in Korea in its 11th year, and experts, industry, and regulatory authorities from 10 countries* including Asia, the European Union, and ASEAN participated to discuss cooperation on cosmetics regulation. Approximately 500 people attended the lectures, marking a successful start in Korea.

Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, USA, Japan, Colombia
This forum discussed the current status and direction of cosmetics safety regulation policies in the US, Europe, and ASEAN, and the outlook for future regulatory systems due to the activation of product development using cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Regulators from Japan, the Philippines, and China also shared their latest cosmetics regulations.

In addition, in order to lead cooperation in cosmetics regulations among Asian countries, the ‘Cooperation Meeting between Asian Cosmetics Regulatory Authorities’ was held for the first time and it was agreed to continuously develop and expand regulatory cooperation channels.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety recently agreed to pursue the signing of a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Korea-Philippine Cosmetics Regulatory Cooperation’ with the Philippine Food and Drug Administration, which has recently been upgraded to a ‘strategic partnership’, with the main contents being the introduction of a functional cosmetics system and support for examination and evaluation technologies, and held a signing ceremony to lay the foundation for cooperation between the two organizations.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also shared domestic functional cosmetics and customized cosmetics systems in a bilateral meeting with the Indonesian Food and Drug Administration, and discussed the latest trends in Indonesia’s pre-import approval (import quota) and mandatory halal labeling of cosmetics (effective October 2026), and sought ways to actively share information and cooperate.

The 16th K-Beauty Expo Korea (hosted by KINTEX), held in conjunction with this forum, recorded export performance of approximately USD 23 million, a 120% increase in contract amount compared to the previous year.

In addition, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety introduced the ‘digital labeling project’ being promoted in Korea at a cooperation meeting with the Japan Cosmetics Association and shared organic collaboration cases and information between regulatory agencies and the industry. Through this, it was decided to promote exchanges and cooperation in the future.

Meanwhile, at the ‘International Symposium on Cosmetics Risk Assessment’ held on the same day, approximately 200 people including domestic and international academic and industry experts and domestic industry officials attended and shared the latest risk assessment methods and cosmetics safety assessment information necessary for overseas expansion.

Director Oh Yu-kyung emphasized, “Starting this year, we will develop the One Asia Cosmetics Beauty Forum into a venue for communication and cooperation among Asian regulatory authorities and a cooperative channel for harmonizing cosmetics regulations, so that it can play a central role in expanding K-beauty exports.”

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will continue to do its best to support excellent domestic cosmetics to smoothly enter overseas markets based on regulatory diplomacy.

Editor. Hong Se-yeong