Chinese Rules Not Pretty, Cosmetic Companies Say

Major cosmetics companies such as Procter & Gamble, Estée Lauder, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Christian Dior are denouncing new import regulations in the fast growing China market. They claim the rules are impossible to apply and threaten a $1 billion a year business. The Chinese government is calling for what it describes as "charts or graphics" indicating the manufacturing process for cosmetics products before allowing them to be sold. Companies in the U.S. and Europe are joining forces to oppose this effort to expose their commercial secrets. The Chinese already demand a mass of information about ingredients. Now they are calling for the entire manufacturing recipes. A European cosmetics executive said: "The Chinese requirements are absurd. This is bureaucracy run wild. The new rules even require separate registration procedures for two identical lipsticks, simply because they are of different shades."