Were imported beauty products detained at Nanjing Customs? 90% of people don't know these rules

"Ms. Li's Korean masks were stuck at the customs for half a month", "Mr. Zhang's French perfume was returned due to ingredient issues"... These scenarios are common in the imported cosmetics industry. With the explosive growth of cross - border e - commerce, Nanjing, as an import hub in the Yangtze River Delta, cosmetics customs clearance is becoming the first hurdle for brands entering China. Today, let's break down this "customs clearance code" that concerns cost and timeliness.

According to current regulations, the import of cosmetics must meet four requirements simultaneously: customs code classification, ingredient filing, Chinese label filing, and inspection and quarantine approval. Take a certain Japanese sunscreen as an example:

• It is necessary to first confirm whether it contains endangered plant ingredients (such as birch extract)
• If the SPF value exceeds 50, a special - use cosmetics approval document is required
• The Chinese label must include the "country of origin" and the full ingredient list

Link 1: Qualification pre - review
The filing processes for cross - border e - commerce and general trade are completely different. The bonded warehouse model requires the pre - completion of the non - special filing with the National Medical Products Administration (5 - 7 working days), while general trade requires the provision of 8 types of documents such as the certificate of origin and the free sales certificate.

Link 2: Intelligent label inspection
After Nanjing Customs launched the AI image - review system in 2023, the detection rate of unqualified labels increased by 40%. Key compliance points include:

• The net content must use Chinese measurement units (such as "milliliter" instead of "ml")
• The ingredient list shall not contain ambiguous expressions such as "etc."
• The expiration date must be marked with a specific end date

Case 1: A certain French essential oil was detained at the port due to the lack of a certificate of endangered species, resulting in an overdue fee of 80,000 yuan for the entire container of goods.

Case 2: The Chinese label of a Korean cushion BB cream covered the original packaging instructions and was punished for being identified as "tampering with product information".

The value of a professional agency lies in helping enterprises save hidden costs by predicting these risk points.

With the deepening of the RCEP agreement, the import tariffs on cosmetics from ASEAN have been gradually reduced to zero within 5 years. The newly added cross - border e - commerce dedicated cargo station at Nanjing Lukou Airport has compressed the customs clearance time to within 6 hours. Choosing to cooperate with an agent familiar with local policies will be the key to brands seizing the East China market.

Have you ever encountered customs clearance problems? Welcome to share your experiences in the comment section. We will select 3 readers to provide free compliance consultations. In the next issue, we will reveal the secrets of obtaining "special - use cosmetics approval documents". Stay tuned!