Australia registers the company, not the product
Brands that have been through the EU, Britain and China expect Australia to have a product notification portal of its own. It has none. The importing business registers instead, and the fee runs from A$80 to A$35,080 depending on last year's import value. New Zealand asks for no registration at all, yet its PFAS deadline lands on 31 December.
Australia has no cosmetic product registration. The business that imports registers with AICIS instead, renewing by 31 August each year, and the fee ranges from A$80 to A$35,080 according to the previous financial year's import value. New Zealand requires no registration, but imports of cosmetics containing PFAS stop on 31 December 2026.
Australia has no product notification portal
Australia does not take cosmetics product by product. There is no equivalent of the EU's CPNP, Britain's SCPN or an NMPA filing, because the regulator, AICIS, treats a cosmetic as the introduction of industrial chemicals. What gets registered, then, is not the product but the business bringing those chemicals in.
The difference shows up in agency quotes. European quotes scale with the number of SKUs; an Australian registration is one registration whether the range holds ten products or a hundred. The flip side is that a European "notification complete" certificate has nowhere to go at the Australian border.
No product registration does not mean no paperwork. Every chemical introduced has to sit in a category — listed, exempted, reported, assessed or commercial evaluation. A chemical already on the Australian Inventory of Industrial Chemicals, used within its listing terms, is simply listed, which is where most conventional skincare formulas stop.
The registering party is whoever imports
"Who registers?" is the first question this market asks. The duty falls on whoever introduces the chemicals into Australia, which in practice means the importer of record. An Australian distributor already registered with AICIS covers that role, leaving the Korean head office with nothing to file; an overseas entity importing directly has to obtain an Australian Registered Body Number and register itself.
That makes the contract worth rereading. Agreements that say only "sole agent" or "exclusive distribution" often leave the importer of record unnamed. If the distributor has not registered, the first shipment stops at customs, and registration does not apply retroactively.
Costs change once a chemical moves out of the listed category. Exempted introductions and pre-introduction reports carry no fee, while an assessment certificate starts at A$7,670 for a very low to low risk chemical and reaches A$36,050 where both health and environment are assessed. For a formula built on a new raw material, that category is worth checking before the formula is signed off.
The fee tracks import value, not product count
Registration cost is set by the value introduced in the previous financial year, which runs 1 July to 30 June, across eight bands. The first band is the A$80 flat fee with no charge on top, so a brand starting with test quantities faces almost no entry cost.
| Band | Import value, previous financial year | Total (A$) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Under 50,000 | 80 |
| 2 | 50,000 to 99,999 | 145 |
| 3 | 100,000 to 249,999 | 260 |
| 4 | 250,000 to 499,999 | 430 |
| 5 | 500,000 to 2,999,999 | 2,180 |
| 6 | 3,000,000 to 4,999,999 | 3,830 |
| 7 | 5,000,000 to 14,999,999 | 24,580 |
| 8 | 15,000,000 and above | 35,080 |
The jumps are worth mapping in advance. Moving from band 4 to band 5 takes the fee from A$430 to A$2,180, and band 6 to band 7 takes it from A$3,830 to A$24,580. In a year where import value sits near a boundary, which side of the financial year a shipment lands on becomes a cost decision.
After registration come 30 November and five years
The registration year runs 1 September to 31 August, and renewal is due by 31 August. What actually gets missed, though, is not the renewal but the annual declaration. Once the registration year closes, a separate declaration confirming that every chemical introduced was properly authorized is due by 30 November, and a business that introduced nothing still selects "did not introduce" and files.
This one cannot be delegated. The business signs in to the portal itself, selects its categories and enters a name and job title. Where an Australian agency contract promises to handle "all filings", it is worth flagging that this item falls outside.
Records are kept for five years starting the day after the registration year ends. The clock keeps running after the introduction stops, and AICIS can ask for the records with 20 working days to produce them. Labeling sits with a different regulator: ingredient lists follow the Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard 2020, which permits listing ingredients at 1% or more in descending order and everything below 1% in any order after them. The outcome looks close to the Korean rule, but the legal basis is not the same one.
New Zealand has no registration and one deadline
Treating New Zealand as an extension of Australia works until ingredients come up. There is neither product nor business registration, and a product within the scope of the Cosmetic Products Group Standard 2020 is deemed approved under number HSR002552. Products containing hazardous ingredients, however, must have a safety data sheet and business contact details lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority within 30 days of first import or manufacture.
| Item | Australia | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Product notification | None | None (deemed under HSR002552) |
| Business registration | AICIS, A$80 to A$35,080 a year | None |
| Annual duty | Declaration by 30 November | SDS within 30 days if hazardous |
| Ingredient lists | Inventory plus introduction category | Schedules 4 to 8 (prohibited, restricted, colorants, preservatives, UV filters) |
| Nearest deadline | — | PFAS import and manufacture, 31 Dec 2026 |
The urgent date belongs to New Zealand. On 30 January 2024 the EPA amended the group standard to stop the import and manufacture of PFAS-containing cosmetics from 31 December 2026, with sales ending a year later on 31 December 2027. Fluorinated ingredients used for water resistance or slip are what this catches, so color cosmetics and sun care formulas are the ones to pull out now.
Labeling takes one more plate as well. Alongside English text, a New Zealand label carries the local importer or manufacturer's contact details, a batch code and disposal advice for both product and packaging, and nanomaterials are marked with "(nano)" after the ingredient name. Disposal advice and the nano marking are the two items an Australian label will not cover.
In short
- Australia registers the company, not the product. More SKUs do not mean another registration.
- The importer of record registers, so start with what the contract says about who imports.
- Fees run A$80 to A$35,080 on last year's import value, with sharp jumps from band 4 to 5 and 6 to 7.
- The annual declaration is due 30 November and must be filed by the business; records run five years, 20 working days on request.
- New Zealand asks for no registration, but PFAS imports close on 31 December 2026.
See which ingredients are moving right now on today's ingredient signal, and work through category price bands and cost structure in the product planner.
*Sources: AICIS, Fees and charges (checked 23 October 2026 — registration bands 1–8 at A$80–35,080; assessment certificates A$7,670–36,050) / AICIS, How much is my registration cost? (registration year 1 September to 31 August, banded on previous financial year value) / AICIS, Annual declaration for all introducers (30 November deadline, filed by the business) / AICIS, Cosmetics and soap / ChemLinked, Australia Cosmetic Regulation (ARBN, five introduction categories, five-year records and 20 working days, Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard 2020) / ChemLinked, New Zealand Cosmetic Regulation (Cosmetic Products Group Standard 2020, HSR002552, Schedules 4–8, 30-day SDS lodgement) / ChemLinked, New Zealand EPA Bans PFAS in Cosmetics (amended 30 January 2024 — import and manufacture 31 December 2026, sale 31 December 2027)*
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Questions people ask
There is no product portal. The importing business registers once, and adding products does not mean registering again. Each chemical introduced still needs a category, and there are five: listed, exempted, reported, assessed and commercial evaluation.
It depends on who imports. If an Australian distributor that is already registered is the importer, the Korean head office has no registration duty; if an overseas entity imports directly, it needs an Australian Registered Body Number first. Check which party the contract names as importer.
Eight bands are set by the value introduced in the previous financial year. Under A$50,000 costs A$80, and the A$500,000 to A$3 million band costs A$2,180. GST does not apply.
An annual declaration is due by 30 November after the registration year closes. An agent or consultant cannot file it, so the business submits it directly, and records are kept for five years and produced within 20 working days on request.
Registration is lighter there and ingredients are tighter. Products within the group standard are treated as approved under number HSR002552, but PFAS-containing cosmetics cannot be imported or made after 31 December 2026 and cannot be sold after 31 December 2027.