China Regulatory Brief: New Safety Standards for Cosmetics & Shanghai Wage Payment Measures

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China-Regulatory-Brief
New Chinese Safety Standards for Cosmetics to Enter into Force as of December 2016

By Cisema GmbH
Contact: info@cisema.de

As announced in June 2015, new safety standards for cosmetics in China will replace the previous standards issued in 2007. Major changes concern ingredients, quality control, and packaging. The changes regarding ingredients are required to be implemented by December 1, 2016, while it will be sufficient to follow the new requirements for quality control and packaging for any first prolongation application after that date.

The changes include:

  • Prohibited ingredients: 1388 (added: 133, modified: 137)
  • To a limited extent permitted ingredients: 47 (added: 1, modified: 31, removed: 27)
  • Preservatives: 51 (modified: 14, removed: 5)
  • Sunscreen products: 27 (modified: 6, removed: 1)
  • Colouring agents: 157 (added: 1, modified: 69)
  • Hair dyes: 75 (modified: 63, removed: 21)

New Measures for Wage Payment in Shanghai Implemented on August 1

The newly revised measures for wage payment in Shanghai, which were recently implemented on August 1, set the rates of salary for employees in probation. The new rules state that an employer must pay no less than 80 percent of the minimum wage paid to employees of the same position within the same company, or less than 80 percent of the wage as stated in the labor contract. In addition, the salary is not to be below the minimum wage standard as specified by local or municipal governments. Moreover, the hourly salary rates of non-full time employees are to be agreed between the employer and employees, but still not below minimum wage standards. The period of remuneration must not exceed 15 days.

Professional Service_CB icons_2015RELATED: Payroll and Human Resource Services

Enterprises Able to Select Favorable Domestic Sales Tax Rates

A notice regarding the expansion of the Pilot Program of the Policy for Selective Levying of Tariffs on Domestic Sales will come into effect as of September 1, 2016. Previously, bonded processing enterprises in special customs supervision areas were required to levy tariffs according to the applicable tax rates of the finished goods, as well as its domestic sales price of the commodities for exportation. The implementation of this new policy means that enterprises in the special bonded zones may select to pay tariffs of applicable tax rates and domestic sales price of finished products which benefit them the most. The notice was issued jointly by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), General Administration of Customs (GAC), and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT).

Beijing Raises Monthly Minimum Wage Standard to RMB1,890

On August 10, the Beijing Municipal Human Resource & Social Security Bureau announced an adjustment of the minimum wage standard in Beijing from RMB1,720 per month to RMB1,890, effective as of September 1, 2016. At the same time, the minimum hourly wage standard of part-time employees has increased from RMB18.7 per hour to RMB21 per, with statutory holiday pay increasing from RMB45 per hour to RMB49.9. The provinces of Chongqing, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Hainan, Shandong, Tianjin, and Hebei have also raised the minimum wage standard, with Shanghai boasting the highest minimum monthly wage of RMB2,190.


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