For Korean beauty brands
In Malaysia a cosmetic is notified, not approved. The words on the pack are screened too.
No cosmetic may be made, sold, imported or even possessed in Malaysia unless it is a notified cosmetic. A Malaysian company files, product by product, in NPRA’s Quest system and prints the Notification Note itself. Screening covers the formula, the claimed benefits and the product name, and a product presented beyond the cosmetic scope is denied. Nota is a free desk that does the boring half for you: who files, what goes in the file, which words on your pack are on the lists, and what it costs to keep a note alive. It runs in your browser; nothing is sent or kept.
Worked example · invented productNOTyymmxxxxxK
- The name carries “collagen”. A name may not use an ingredient the product does not contain.Annex I part 2
- “Collagen production” sits on the list of claims NPRA does not accept for skin products.Annex I part 8, skin products
- An ampoule must say “for external use only”.Annex I part 7 §3.1(i)
- “In 7 days” is allowed only if the evidence is in the file.Annex I part 8, numerical claims
Three hands, one note
- Brand
You write the facts.
Formula with percentages, the factory’s GMP proof, the authorisation letter, the label, the safety assessment. All of it comes from Korea.
- CNH
A Malaysian company signs it.
The Cosmetic Notification Holder is registered with SSM, holds the Quest login, pays NPRA and keeps the Product Information File.
- NPRA
The regulator screens it.
Banned substances, restricted ones over their limit, medicinal claims and listed names are denied. After launch it samples, audits and can cancel a note.
Three things Korean brands get wrong about Malaysia
The Korean brand cannot be the notifier.
The notification holder must be a locally incorporated company in the field of cosmetics, with a permanent address, registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia, and with a business scope tied to health or cosmetic products. It may or may not own the brand. Choosing the importer is choosing who holds your notification, and a change of distribution rights is a new notification.
Guideline glossary, §2.1; Annex I part 5Seoul’s favourite words are on NPRA’s lists.
“Collagen production”, “DNA repair”, “melanin synthesis”, “growth factor”, “EGF”, “heal”, “reverse ageing” and “sunblock” are all on the published lists of names or claims that NPRA does not accept. The accepted twin is usually one verb away: “helps to regenerate cells”, “slows down the signs of ageing”, “reduce dark spots”.
Annex I parts 2 and 8Halal is optional. A halal logo without a certificate is not.
Cosmetics do not need halal certification, but the logo may be used only when JAKIM or a body JAKIM recognises has certified the product. Separately, any animal-origin ingredient must be flagged on the label, and bovine or porcine origin must name the animal. Placenta, collagen and gelatin are the usual surprises.
Guideline §3.4; Annex I part 7 §3.1(i)
What is on this desk
Word screen · paste a product name and the claims on the pack; see which words are on NPRA’s lists.
Route and file · who files, which documents, which flags, and the exemptions for samples, transit and re-export.
Fees and dates · RM 50 per notification, two years of validity, and the day to renew.
Label sheet · every item NPRA wants on the outer pack, and what a Korean pack usually lacks.
Built from NPRA’s cosmetic guideline (Second Edition, August 2022) and its Annex I parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13 and 14, read on 3 November 2026. Ingredient annexes, sunscreen rules and Malaysian customs are not covered; the sources page lists what we left out.