Chinese names of cosmetic ingredients standardized

BEIJING -- China has renewed its national catalogue of Chinese names of international cosmetic ingredients to further standardize the ingredients' Chinese names, according to the country's food and drug watchdog.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) posted the new catalogue on its official website Thursday, asking all cosmetics manufacturers to use standard Chinese names for the ingredients in their related application submissions to the government agency beginning April 1, 2011.

The catalogue listed Chinese names for 15,649 cosmetic ingredients.

Noting that the catalogue did not give evaluations on the safety of listed ingredients, the SFDA asked all cosmetics manufacturers to strictly follow related regulations and instructions while using these ingredients and to guarantee their safety.

Further, the SFDA said those new ingredients, whether listed or not in the catalogue, should only be used in producing cosmetics after receiving approval from the authorities.