Information Express | The US FDA has stopped accepting voluntary registration of cosmetic VCRP and is about to implement mandatory registration

On March 27, 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially ceased accepting submissions for the Voluntary Cosmetic Registration Program (VCRP) due to the FDA's plan to develop a program for submitting facility registrations and product lists under the Modern Cosmetic Administration Act of 2022 (MoCRA). (Simply put, changing the registration system)

The Voluntary Cosmetics Registration Program (VCRP) was established in 1972. Cosmetics manufacturers, packagers, and distributors voluntarily submit information on cosmetics, their ingredients, frequency of use, and the business processes involved in production and distribution to the FDA for filing. The VCRP project is also open to foreign cosmetic companies whose products are exported to the United States.

The FDA regulates cosmetics in the US market by utilizing information obtained from the VCRP project. This is not an approval system. Because the project is voluntary, the information provided by the VCRP project cannot reflect the complete situation of cosmetics in the US market (for full details of the plan, please refer to 21 CFR parts 710 and 720).

Due to the Modernization of Cosmetic Regulation Act (MoCRA) requiring certain cosmetic companies to submit factory registration and product listing information, the FDA is creating a new system to handle the resulting large number of registration and listing applications. Therefore, the FDA will no longer use the current Voluntary Registration System (VCRP) and will no longer accept and process applications submitted to the VCRP system.

The FDA requires cosmetics companies to wait until the announcement of the new system's availability before registering with the FDA. And the information in the VCRP system will not be transferred to the newly developed factory registration and product listing system for the MoCRA Act.

The summary is as follows:

1. The FDA has stopped accepting and processing materials submitted to VCRP;

2. The FDA is developing a system for submitting MoCRA authorized facility registrations and product lists, and will provide further updates regarding its upcoming launch.

3. The information in VCRP will not be transferred to the MoCRA authorized facility registration and product list plan.

Kind reminder

Cosmetic merchants and enterprises should pay attention that the subsequent registration of cosmetics will change from voluntary registration to mandatory registration. ZRLK suggests that relevant enterprises complete FDA registration work in advance to avoid trade risks and avoid unnecessary losses. Our company has a professional technical team that can provide FDA registration services to our customers. If you want to learn more about FDA registration requirements or have products that require FDA registration services, please feel free to contact us at any time. Our engineers will be at your service as soon as possible!