Scope
The standards apply to cosmetics under China’s cosmetics safety framework. The transcribed numeric provisions are the Table 2 harmful-substance limits for mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium.
Exact limit and units
| Metal | Matrix | Limit | Unit | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Cosmetics | 1 | mg/kg | finished cosmetic product |
| Lead | Cosmetics | 10 | mg/kg | finished cosmetic product |
| Arsenic | Cosmetics | 2 | mg/kg | finished cosmetic product |
| Cadmium | Cosmetics | 5 | mg/kg | finished cosmetic product |
How tested
The standards include analytical-method sections for restricted and harmful substances. The table values are stated as mg/kg limits for harmful substances in cosmetics.
Enforcement posture
The technical standards are part of China’s cosmetics safety regime and operate as mandatory product-safety requirements for cosmetics.
History of changes
The 2015 edition adjusted the lead limit to 10 mg/kg, adjusted the arsenic limit to 2 mg/kg, and added a cadmium limit of 5 mg/kg.
How it compares
The Chinese lead and mercury limits align with common international cosmetic impurity values of 10 ppm lead and 1 ppm mercury, while the arsenic value of 2 mg/kg is stricter than several 5 mg/kg regional cosmetic guidance values.
Sources
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 1 source added; contamination-profile values revised; 7 sections added |