PROCEDURES FOR APPLICATION OF COSMETIC ADVERTISING LICENSE

To advertise cosmetics, it is compulsory to apply for a Certificate of Cosmetic Advertising Content (also known as a Cosmetic Advertising License).

1. Conditions for applying for a cosmetic advertising license

a. General conditions

• Advertising content must ensure compliance with the provisions of the law on advertising, without prohibited acts specified in Article 8 of the Law on Advertising.

• Voices, words and images in advertisements must be concise, common, and in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of the Law on Advertising. The smallest font size in the advertisement content must be large enough to be readable under normal conditions and must not be smaller than the ratio equivalent to the font size of Vntime or Times New Roman 12 on A4 paper.

b. Specific conditions

• Advertised cosmetic products must have product announcement slips in accordance with the law on health.

• Advertising content must comply with the regulations on cosmetic advertising (Article 4 of Decree No. 181/2013/ND-CP) and:

♦ Not allowed to use images, costumes, names, letters, articles of medical units, facilities, doctors, pharmacists, other medical staff;

♦ Product features and uses must be consistent with the nature of the product, product classification and announced features and uses in accordance with the law.

• Have sufficient dossiers as prescribed.

• The unit requesting confirmation of advertising content is the unit named on the product announcement sheet.

2. Competent agencies granting cosmetic advertising licenses

• The Department of Health of the province or city directly under the Central Government where the establishment whose name is on the cosmetic product announcement sheet has its head office issues the advertising license for cosmetics to that establishment.

• In case of cosmetic advertising through conferences, seminars or events, the Department of Health of the province or centrally run city where the conference, seminar or event is expected to be held shall issue a certificate of advertisement content.

3. Application for a cosmetic advertising license include

• Written request for confirmation of advertising content;

• Certificate of business registration of the enterprise;

• Content of request for advertisement confirmation:

♦ If advertising on audio or video newspapers, there must be 01 record of the expected advertising content in the video disc, audio disc, and floppy file, together with 03 scenarios to be advertised;

♦ If advertising on advertising media other than audio and video newspapers, there must be 03 copies of the advertising content expected to be printed in color, enclosed with a soft file recording the content to be advertised;

♦ If advertising through seminars, conferences, or events: In addition to the documents specified above, there must be a valid advertising template used in the program approved by a competent authority (in case of approved advertising sample), the program must clearly state the name of the report content, time (day/month/year), venue (specific address); content of reports and presentation materials, distributed to attendees; a list of names, scientific titles and professional qualifications of the reporter (the reporter must have professional qualifications and qualifications suitable to the field of advertised products, goods and services;

• Sample product label;

• Valid authorization document (In case the unit requesting confirmation of advertising content is an authorized unit);

• Cosmetic product announcement slip;

• Valid and reliable documents proving the features and uses of the product in case the cosmetic advertisement content states the product's features and uses are not included in the content of the cosmetic product announcement sheet received by the competent authority.

4. Procedure

Step 1: Submit your application

Units requesting certification of advertising contents submit dossiers to agencies competent to issue cosmetic advertising licenses.

Step 2: Process the application and get the result

• Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of complete and valid dossiers according to the stamp of receiving official dispatches from the receiving agency, the Department of Health shall issue a certificate of advertisement content. In case the advertising license is not granted, the Department of Health must reply in writing and clearly state the reason for not granting it.

• The Department of Health is responsible for publishing on the portal of its agency the list of cosmetic products under its charge that have been granted advertising licenses.

5. Fees and charges

Fee for verification of cosmetic advertising content is 1,600,000 VND/document.