Scope
The amended Taiwan prohibited-ingredients table applies to cosmetic products and lists substances that may not be used as cosmetic ingredients. For mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead compounds, the table also states finished-product residual impurity allowances where the trace presence results from raw materials or other manufacturing factors and is technically unavoidable.
Exact limit and units
| Metal | Table entry | Limit | Unit | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Mercury and its compounds | 1 | ppm | final cosmetic product residual impurity |
| Arsenic | Arsenic and its compounds | 3 | ppm | final cosmetic product residual impurity |
| Cadmium | Cadmium and its compounds | 5 | ppm | final cosmetic product residual impurity |
| Lead | Lead and its compounds | 10 | ppm | final cosmetic product residual impurity |
How tested
The notice does not prescribe a specific analytical method for these residual metal entries. The values are stated as maximum residual quantities in the final cosmetic product when trace presence is technically unavoidable.
Enforcement posture
The notice is a Ministry of Health and Welfare gazette amendment under Taiwan’s Cosmetic Hygiene and Safety Act. The metals are prohibited ingredient classes, and the ppm values operate as residual impurity allowances rather than authorizations to add the metals intentionally.
History of changes
The notice was published in the Executive Yuan Gazette on 21 March 2024 under document number 衛授食字第1131601051號. It states that one amendment takes effect immediately and the remaining amendments take effect on 1 January 2025; the heavy-metal residual limits already appeared in earlier versions and are captured here from the current amended table.
How it compares
Taiwan’s residual impurity values align closely with the common cosmetics impurity-control pattern: mercury at 1 ppm, arsenic at 3 ppm, cadmium at 5 ppm, and lead at 10 ppm. The table is stricter than jurisdictions that only prohibit Annex II-style metal ingredients without numeric trace 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 |