Nothing in an American refusal notice for a Korean cosmetic is about chemistry. In FY2025, 69 per cent of Korea's US FDA cosmetics import refusals came down to labelling, and the same month that Korea's own regulator published its August enforcement record, five of its nine actions were for advertising liable to be mistaken for medicine. The compliance failure that actually stops Korean cosmetics, in both jurisdictions, is the sentence on the label — not the formula in the ja

Saudi Arabia's FDA will prohibit cosmetic products in syringe form starting 1 January 2027. Ampoules and vials remain permitted conditionally if they feature four specific Arabic and English warnings on packaging. Brands have until 31 December 2026 to recall affected stock and update compliance. This regulation treats packaging format as an implied claim, requiring K-beauty brands to audit both bilingual labelling and marketing assets to avoid market restrictions.