| TOP |
| 7th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 18, 2002) |
1. Complainant: Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry
2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
3. Complaint:
With regard to labeling cosmetics, Article 61 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law stipulates that "cosmetics shall be labeled to indicate the following matters on the immediate container or package." The imported cosmetic soap handled by the complainant is packed in unit of 3 or 4 pieces. The manufacturer considers 3~4 pieces of the cosmetic soap as one merchandise. When the manufacturer consulted a pharmaceutical affairs office about labeling 3~4 pieces of soap as one merchandise about five years ago, the office confirmed there was no problem. However, the pharmaceutical affairs office recently notified that the container referred to in the law is not the cellophane but the box inside. Amending the labeling means a huge financial burden because it involves a problem of trademark rights and introduction of machines.
Please approve our practice of considering one pack as one piece of merchandise and labeling the outer cellophane as the immediate container as is generally recognized in other countries, on condition that we print a notice urging retailers not to sell the soap piece by piece.
4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:
From the standpoint of protection of consumers, Article 61 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law prescribes that the matters such as "manufacturer's name and address," "manufacturer number," and "ingredients' names" shall be labeled on "the immediate container or package" of each product, to help consumers obtain necessary information and contact the manufacturer as needs arise as well as to prevent confusion with similar products.
"The immediate container or package" means a container (cosmetic bottle, box, etc.) or a package (cosmetics wrapping paper, etc.) in which cosmetics are directly contained. If "the outer cellophane is recognized as the immediate package by specifying that the product will not be sold piece by piece" as the complainant requests, the legally required labeling will be made only on the outer cellophane and not on the various cosmetics inside.
This labeling method may allow consumers to confirm the labeled matters at the time of purchase, but once they start using the cosmetics, the outer cellophane on which legally required matters are labeled will be discarded, leaving only boxed cosmetics on which there is no labelling.
Therefore, consumers will not be able to obtain information on the proper use of the cosmetics that are not used immediately after the its package was opened. This may lead the consumers to confuse the cosmetics and similar products and in some cases may cause health problems (skin disorder, such as allergic diseases, alopecia, etc.).
Therefore, from the standpoint of ensuring the security of consumers, labeling should be made on each immediate package and we cannot recognize the outer cellophane as the immediate package, even if it specifically says that the cosmetics will not be sold piece by piece.
5. Remarks
The complainant accepted this policy.