Cosmetic and beautification products become part of daily life. Cosmetic sector is dramatically growing up in all parts of the world. Alongside with the cosmetic sector's growth is the inclination of the incidence case of allergy and dermatitis. These incidence cases impact the public health and invoke the Ministry of Public Health's concern as repeatedly express in the consumer protection policy.

The Ministry of Public Health therefore decided on promulgating the Cosmetic Act 1974 (B.E. 2517) to safeguard health and benefit of the consumers. The Act had been adopted since then with no further revision until its pitfalls and inappropriateness when applied to present situations were realized.

The Cosmetic Act 1992 (B.E. 2535) is endorsed and become effective as the replacement of the former Act in 9 April 1992.

The Cosmetic Act 1992 (B.E. 2535) defines cosmetic products into 2 categories namely specially-controlled, controlled. Those cosmetic products that fall outside this scope will be regarded as general cosmetics.

• Specially-controlled cosmetics
  are defined by the use of specially-controlled ingredients as part of the products or those products laid down by the ministrial notification as specially-controlled cosmetics. These products are required to be registered and pay an annual fee as stated in the ministrial regulation to the Thai FDA prior to be marketed.

• Controlled cosmetics
  are defined by the use of controlled ingredients as part of the products or those products laid down by the ministrial notification as controlled cosmetics. These products are required to be notified and pay an annual fee as stated in the ministrial regulation to the Thai FDA prior to be marketed.

Furthermore, all the cosmetic products must not contain those prohibited ingredients laid down by the ministrial regulations. In addition, the Ministry of Public Health also issues the Ministrial Notifications regulating the ingredients that may be form as part of the cosmetic products.

As laid down by the Cosmetic Act 1992 (B.E. 2535), the Cosmetic Committee with thirteen representatives from government sector and six representatives from private sector is appointed as advisory board to the Minister of Public Health on regulatory and technical aspects of cosmetics. The Cosmetic Committee appoints the three subcommittees namely Standard and Pre-Marketing Approvals, Quality Improvement, Labeling and Advertising to assist it on particular functions.

• Specially-controlled cosmetics are required to be registered and pay an annual fee as stated in the ministrial regulation to the Thai FDA prior to be marketed. Controlled cosmetics are required to be notified and pay an annual fee as stated in the ministrial regulation to the Thai FDA prior to be marketed.

• Labels of the products in all categories must bear informations as specified in the Labeling Notification. The labels and advertising must not pose any exaggerated or misbranded or misleading claims.

• A quality assurance programme is undertaken through cooperation with the Cosmetics and Toxicology Division of the Medical Science Department. The cosmetic products from the markets and from manufacturing sites are regularly sampled and tested. Recommendations and actions are taken to the settle the non-compliances. In addition, inspection and monitoring on labeling and advertisments are regularly conducted.

• GMP implementation in cosmetic industry is one of Thai FDA policy in improving the production of manufacturers. The cosmetic GMP guideline is established by the GMP subcommittee and used as the reference by the FDA inspectors.