Customized Cosmetics in Korea: What a Store May Mix, Repackage, and Who Must Do It

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The short answer: in-store blending comes with its own business notification and a qualified person

When a brand says it wants a counter where a product is blended to each customer on the spot, the first thing to settle is not the recipe. It is the category of business. In Korea, mixing or decanting cosmetics inside a store is treated by the Cosmetics Act as a separate business called customized cosmetics selling, and a notification, a facility requirement, and a qualified person come with it.

This article reads the provisions as written. What the law calls a customized cosmetic, what may and may not be mixed in, who has to do the mixing, what records the store has to keep, and what the party supplying the bulk contents and raw materials usually ends up preparing.

The scope is the law of the Republic of Korea, and every provision cited here was read in the original on the National Law Information Center on 7 October 2026. This is not legal advice on a specific matter, and it makes no claim about EVAS commercial terms or facilities.

Key points

• Article 2(3-2) of the Cosmetics Act defines a customized cosmetic in two forms: contents mixed with other contents or with a raw material designated by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety, and contents that have been repackaged into smaller units.
• The repackaging limb carries a proviso. Article 2-2 of the Enforcement Rule sets the excluded product as solid facial-cleansing soap, which the Rule calls cosmetic soap.
• Article 5(3) of the Act prohibits a customized cosmetics seller from arbitrarily mixing or repackaging cosmetics that are distributed and sold to consumers.
• The notification goes to the head of the competent regional Food and Drug Safety Office. Article 8-2(1) of the Enforcement Rule requires a copy of the compounding manager's certificate and a specification of the facilities as attachments.
• Article 8-4 of the Enforcement Rule requires the mixing and repackaging space to be separated or partitioned from space used for other purposes, with a proviso where no health or hygiene risk is recognised.
• Article 5 of the Regulation on Safety Standards for Cosmetics does not list permitted raw materials. It permits everything except three excluded categories.
• The third of those is raw materials that produce the efficacy of a functional cosmetic, and it is lifted where the responsible distributor supplying the raw material has been screened for, or has filed a report on, a functional cosmetic including that raw material.
• Article 12-2 of the Enforcement Rule bundles four mixing and repackaging safety rules plus a catch-all, a sales record, a consumer explanation duty, and adverse-event reporting into one list of compliance duties.
• The list of every raw material used must be reported once a year under Article 5(6) of the Act, and Article 13(4) of the Enforcement Rule sets the deadline at the end of February each year.
• Labelling changes too. The proviso to Article 19(4) of the Enforcement Rule drops the barcode and, for an imported cosmetic, the country of manufacture, the manufacturing company name and its location, and Attached Table 4 treats the manufacturing date printed alongside a period-after-opening as the mixing or repackaging date for a customized cosmetic.

1. The law defines a customized cosmetic in two forms

The starting point is Article 2(3-2) of the Cosmetics Act. Item (a) is "a cosmetic mixed by adding, to the contents of a manufactured or imported cosmetic, the contents of another cosmetic or a raw material designated by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety." Item (b) is "a cosmetic made by dividing the contents of a manufactured or imported cosmetic into smaller units."

Both items start from "the contents of a manufactured or imported cosmetic." The regime assumes you are working from contents that have already been manufactured or imported, not that the store is building a formula from raw materials on the counter.

Item (b) carries a proviso: "provided that a cosmetic made by simply repackaging the contents of solid soap or other cosmetics prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister shall be excluded." That Ordinance is Article 2-2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act, which sets the excluded product as solid facial-cleansing soap, referred to in the Rule as cosmetic soap. Simple repackaging of cosmetic soap is therefore not a customized cosmetic. That is not the same as saying repackaging in general is excluded.

The business itself is named in the Act. Article 2(12) defines customized cosmetics selling as "the business of selling customized cosmetics," and Article 2-2(1) lists three categories of business under this Act: cosmetics manufacturing, cosmetics responsible distribution, and customized cosmetics selling. It sits in its own column. The distinction between the three is covered in more detail in cosmetics business registration and notification.

2. You may not arbitrarily decant the finished products on the shelf

This is the point that is misread most often. Article 5(3) of the Act provides that "a customized cosmetics seller shall not arbitrarily mix or repackage cosmetics that are distributed and sold to consumers." Filing the notification does not create a right to take a finished product off the display and decant it.

The provision was newly inserted on 17 August 2021. What the regime allows is handling, to the prescribed standards, contents and raw materials supplied for mixing and repackaging. Reaching for a product that is distributed and sold to consumers falls outside that, and the Act draws the line in its own text.

So the planning question changes. It is not "which products will we decant," but "how will we compose the bulk contents we take in for mixing and repackaging."

3. The notification goes to the regional Food and Drug Safety Office

Article 3-2(1) of the Act requires a person intending to engage in customized cosmetics selling to notify the Minister of Food and Drug Safety as prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister, and the same applies when changing any notified matter prescribed by that Ordinance. Manufacturing and responsible distribution are registrations; this one is a notification.

The actual counter and documents are in Article 8-2(1) of the Enforcement Rule. A customized cosmetics selling notification in attached Form 6-3 is submitted, with a copy of the compounding manager's certificate and a specification of the facilities attached, to the head of the regional Food and Drug Safety Office with jurisdiction over the location of the sales establishment.

That paragraph has a proviso. Where a seller who has already filed intends to carry on the same business temporarily, within a range of one month, at a place other than the notified location, the notification is submitted with a copy of the notification certificate in attached Form 6-4 (excluding a certificate issued as an electronic document) and a copy of the compounding manager's certificate. Any brand considering a pop-up store or an event floor should read that sentence first.

Where the notification meets the requirements, the head of the regional office enters it in the notification register and issues the notification certificate in attached Form 6-4. The register records the notification number and date, the seller's name and resident registration number or equivalent, the seller's trade name and location, the sales establishment's trade name and location, the compounding manager's name, resident registration number or equivalent and certificate number, and, only where the business is to be carried on temporarily, the period of business.

Changes requiring a further notification are limited to three by Article 8-3(1) of the Enforcement Rule: a change of the seller, a change of the trade name or location of the sales establishment, and a change of the compounding manager. A change notification in attached Form 6-5 is submitted with the notification certificate and documents evidencing the change, and where the location changes it goes to the head of the regional office with jurisdiction over the new location.

4. The facility requirement is separation or partition

Article 3-2(2) of the Act requires a person filing the notification to meet the facility standards prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister, and those standards are in Article 8-4 of the Enforcement Rule. The provision is short: the space for mixing and repackaging customized cosmetics must be separated or partitioned from space used for other purposes.

The proviso has to be read with it. Where it is recognised that there is no risk of harm to the quality, safety or other health and hygiene aspects of the customized cosmetic during mixing and repackaging, the space need not be separated or partitioned. The provision asks for "separation or partition," so it does not necessarily mean a walled-off room, and the provision itself does not set out the criteria for that recognition or who makes it.

In practice the specification of facilities attached to the notification is the document that explains this requirement. The provision does not set the order in which a layout is decided, but deciding where the mixing and repackaging space sits before the store layout is fixed costs less than reworking it later, which is the editorial team's practical observation.

5. Mixing and repackaging is the compounding manager's job

Alongside the facility standards, Article 3-2(2) of the Act requires the seller to have a person engaged in quality and safety management work such as mixing and repackaging customized cosmetics. That person is the customized cosmetics compounding manager, a term the provision itself defines.

The qualification comes from an examination. Article 3-4(1) of the Act requires a person who intends to become a compounding manager to pass a qualifying examination conducted by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety on cosmetics, raw materials and related matters. Article 3-4(2) suspends the examination of, or invalidates the pass of, a person who applied by false or other improper means or who cheated, and bars that person from sitting the examination for three years from the date of the disposition.

Grounds of disqualification and prohibited conduct come with the qualification. Article 3-5 of the Act sets out the grounds of disqualification, and its subparagraph 5 covers a person for whom three years have not passed since the qualification was revoked under Article 3-8. Article 3-6 prohibits a compounding manager from letting another person perform compounding manager work under their name, or transferring or lending the certificate, and equally prohibits anyone from taking over or borrowing another person's certificate and using it. Article 3-7 bars a person who is not a compounding manager from using that title or a similar one.

Two provisions matter for staffing. Article 8-2(4) of the Enforcement Rule provides that where the seller has passed the qualifying examination, that seller may perform compounding manager work at one of the seller's sales establishments, and in that case the establishment is deemed to have a compounding manager. The limit to one establishment is in the text. Article 8-2(5) allows a compounding manager who has ceased to be engaged in that work at an establishment to submit a notification of non-engagement in management work in attached Form 6-2.

Training is annual. Article 5(7) of the Act requires responsible distribution managers and compounding managers to receive training on securing cosmetics safety and on quality management every year, and Article 14(1) of the Enforcement Rule splits it in two. Initial training is within six months from the date of engagement, provided that where the examination was passed within one year before the date of engagement, initial training is deemed to have been received. Refresher training is once a year measured from the date of the initial training, or, where that proviso applies, once a year measured from the date one year after passing the examination. Article 14(9) sets the training hours in the plan drawn up by the training institution at not less than four and not more than eight hours.

6. Permitted raw materials are defined by exclusion

The substance of the phrase "a raw material designated by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety" in Article 2(3-2)(a) of the Act sits in a notification. Article 1 of the Regulation on Safety Standards for Cosmetics (MFDS Notification No. 2026-19, in force 18 March 2026) states that the Regulation designates the raw materials that may be used in customized cosmetics pursuant to Article 2(3-2) of the Act.

The method of designation matters. Article 5 of that Regulation does not list what may be used. It provides that "raw materials other than the following may be used in customized cosmetics," and the three exclusions are: raw materials that may not be used in cosmetics under Attached Table 1; raw materials requiring use restrictions under Attached Table 2; and raw materials notified by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety as producing the efficacy of a functional cosmetic.

The second exclusion is easy to underrate. Attached Table 2 holds raw materials with use limits, such as preservatives and UV filters, and Article 4 of the Regulation provides that preservatives, UV filters and the like other than those in Attached Table 2 may not be used. So a preservative is a raw material used within the Attached Table 2 limit in cosmetics generally, yet it is excluded by Article 5, subparagraph 2 as a raw material added at the counter. A preservative already present in the supplied contents and a preservative added in store are different questions.

How raw materials are chosen, and what their documents prove, is set out separately in ingredient selection and raw material specifications and test reports.

7. The functional-ingredient exception depends on the supplier

Subparagraph 3 of Article 5 of the Regulation carries a proviso. Raw materials producing the efficacy of a functional cosmetic are excluded in principle, "provided that this shall not apply where the cosmetics responsible distributor supplying the raw material to the customized cosmetics seller has undergone screening for, or has submitted a report on, a functional cosmetic including that raw material pursuant to Article 4 of the Cosmetics Act."

The condition in that proviso attaches to the supplying party, not to the store. The provision requires the supplying responsible distributor to have been screened, or to have filed a report, for a functional cosmetic including that raw material. A store having sourced an attractive ingredient does not by itself make the proviso work.

So a brand planning a counter built on functional actives ends up asking, while the supply terms are still being discussed, which functional cosmetic screening or report that raw material is included in. The structure of functional cosmetic screening and reporting is worked through on one product category in functional claims.

8. The mixing and repackaging safety rules are part of the compliance duties

Article 5(4) of the Act requires a customized cosmetics seller to comply with matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister concerning methods of managing the facilities and equipment of the sales floor, the duty to observe mixing and repackaging safety standards, the duty to explain the contents and raw materials being mixed or repackaged, the duty to report safety-related matters, and so on. That Ordinance is Article 12-2 of the Enforcement Rule.

Subparagraph 1 is to inspect the facilities and equipment of the sales floor regularly and manage them so that there is no harm to health and hygiene.

Subparagraph 2 holds the mixing and repackaging safety standards, in four items plus one catch-all.

• Item (a): before mixing or repackaging, check the quality test report for the contents or raw materials used
• Item (b): before mixing or repackaging, disinfect or wash the hands, except where disposable gloves are worn during mixing or repackaging
• Item (c): before mixing or repackaging, check whether the packaging container that will hold the mixed or repackaged product is contaminated
• Item (d): inspect the hygienic condition of the equipment or instruments used before use, and clean them after use so that no contamination remains
• Item (e): comply with other matters similar to items (a) through (d) that the Minister of Food and Drug Safety determines and publicly notifies for the safety of mixing and repackaging

Item (a) sits directly on the supply relationship. The store has to check the quality test report before mixing or repackaging, so without a report to check that work cannot proceed as the provision requires. How to read a finished-product test report is set out in batch release test reports.

Packaging is in the text as well. What item (c) requires is a contamination check of the packaging container, and the provision does not itself set storage or handling methods. So containers used in store are easier to work with when compatibility with the contents and the storage and handling methods are settled together in advance. Compatibility between container and formulation is covered in packaging and formulation compatibility.

9. The sales record and the explanation duty create the store's paper trail

Subparagraph 3 of Article 12-2 of the Enforcement Rule requires a customized cosmetics sales record to be prepared and kept, and states that a record in electronic form is included. The entries required are the lot number, the use-by date or the period after opening, and the sales date and quantity.

Subparagraph 4 sets two things that must be explained to the consumer at the point of sale: the content and characteristics of the contents and raw materials used in mixing or repackaging, and the precautions when using the customized cosmetic. The provision sets only the items to be explained and not who prepares that material. In practice the material received at the supply stage becomes the basis of the counter's explanation.

Subparagraph 5 requires adverse events related to the use of a customized cosmetic to be reported to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety as the Minister determines and publicly notifies. How a use-by date and a period after opening are set and labelled is covered in use-by date and period after opening.

10. The list of raw materials used is reported every year

Article 5(6) of the Act requires a customized cosmetics seller to report the list of every raw material used in customized cosmetics to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety once a year, as prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister.

The deadline and the route are in Article 13(4) of the Enforcement Rule. The list of raw materials used in customized cosmetics sold in the previous year is reported by the end of February each year, as the Minister determines and publicly notifies, through a cosmetics industry association established under Article 17 of the Act.

The phrase "every raw material used" reaches back to the supply side. The provision asks for a list of the raw materials used in the customized cosmetics sold in the previous year. The reporting party is the store, but compiling that list needs raw-material information, so in practice organising it at the supply stage comes with it.

11. Some labelling items change

The basics of labelling are the same as for any other cosmetic. Article 10(1) of the Act sets out ten matters to be stated on the outer packaging, and the proviso to the part other than each subparagraph allows packaging prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister, such as packaging of a cosmetic with a small content volume, to state only the name of the cosmetic, the trade name of the responsible distributor and of the customized cosmetics seller, the price, the lot number, and the use-by date or period after opening.

What changes is in Article 19(4) of the Enforcement Rule. That paragraph sets out eight matters to be stated under Article 10(1), subparagraph 10 of the Act, and its proviso says that "in the case of customized cosmetics, subparagraphs 1 and 6 shall be excluded." Subparagraph 1 is the barcode determined by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety, and subparagraph 6 is, for an imported cosmetic, the country of manufacture (which may be omitted where the country of origin is stated under the Foreign Trade Act), the manufacturing company name and its location.

How the business is identified is also in the text. Item (b) of subparagraph 2 of Attached Table 4 to the Enforcement Rule requires "cosmetics manufacturer," "cosmetics responsible distributor" and "customized cosmetics seller" to be stated separately, and allows them to be stated together where one operator also carries on another of those businesses.

There is a dating rule specific to customized cosmetics. Item (a) of subparagraph 5 of Attached Table 4 requires the lot number to be stated so that it is readily distinguishable from the use-by date or period after opening, and requires the manufacturing date that must be printed alongside a period after opening to be stated so that it too is distinguishable, treating that manufacturing date as the mixing or repackaging date in the case of a customized cosmetic.

Safety standards are not waived. Article 2 of the Regulation on Safety Standards for Cosmetics states that the Regulation applies to all cosmetics manufactured, imported or distributed in Korea. Having been blended in store does not move a product outside the distribution safety standards.

12. What the party supplying contents and raw materials usually ends up preparing

Every duty the provisions above impose sits with the customized cosmetics seller; none of them places a duty directly on the party supplying the contents or the raw materials. On that basis, the list below is what the editorial team expects a store to ask the supply side for, set out from a practical standpoint.

• Whether the quality test report can be had in time to be checked before mixing or repackaging. The duty to check under item (a) of subparagraph 2 of Article 12-2 sits with the store, and the provision does not say who supplies that document.
• Where the composition uses a functional active, whether screening was undergone, or a report filed, under Article 4 of the Act for a functional cosmetic including that raw material. That is the condition the proviso to Article 5, subparagraph 3 of the Regulation attaches to the supplying cosmetics responsible distributor.
• The raw-material information the store needs to compile the annual raw material list report. Under Article 5(6) of the Act the reporting party is the store.
• Information on preservatives and other limited raw materials already present in the contents. What Article 5, subparagraph 2 of the Regulation excludes is a raw material added in store, so the provisions treat the two differently.
• Material in a form that can be used for the explanation to the consumer, namely the content and characteristics of the contents and raw materials and the precautions for use. The explanation duty itself sits with the store under subparagraph 4 of Article 12-2 of the Enforcement Rule.
• How the use-by date or the period after opening will be justified. Under item (a) of subparagraph 5 of Attached Table 4, the mixing or repackaging date takes the place of the manufacturing date for a customized cosmetic.

This list is the editorial team's practical suggestion rather than a duty the provisions impose on the supply side, and it does not imply any particular supply terms, quantities or lead times. How a small-batch structure is set up is covered separately in small-batch production and MOQ.

13. Part of this changes on 29 April 2027

Article 3-2 of the Act also carries text amended on 28 April 2026 that takes effect on 29 April 2027. The amended paragraph 2 adds a proviso allowing a seller who intends to sell only cosmetics prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister among the cosmetics in the main text of Article 2(3-2)(b) to have, instead of a compounding manager, an employee who has completed training on the repackaging of cosmetics. It is a change confined to certain repackaging-only cases.

The new paragraph 3 requires that training to cover cosmetics-related statutes, safety and hygiene management matters to be observed when repackaging cosmetics, and other matters prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister, and paragraph 4 leaves the training institutions, methods and the issuance of completion certificates to that Ordinance. The penalty provision moves with it: in the amended Article 36(1), subparagraph 1-4, which punishes a violation of Article 3-2(2), is deleted.

What is not yet confirmed is the scope of the "cosmetics prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister" that the proviso applies to. The Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act in force as read on 7 October 2026 (Ordinance of the Prime Minister No. 2109, in force 2 April 2026) contains no provision on repackaging training or completion certificates. A business preparing a notification now should therefore plan around the current requirement to have a compounding manager.

14. What happens on a violation

The consequences differ by provision.

Article 36(1) of the Act provides for imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won, and its subparagraph 1-3 covers a person who violates the first sentence of Article 3-2(1), that is, who carries on customized cosmetics selling without filing the notification. Subparagraph 1-4 of the same paragraph covers a person who violates Article 3-2(2), which is where failing to meet the facility standards or to have a compounding manager lands. Subparagraph 1-2 covers a person who filed a notification or change notification by false or other improper means. Paragraph (2) of the same Article allows the imprisonment and the fine under paragraph (1) to be imposed together.

Article 38, subparagraph 1 of the Act provides for a fine of up to 2 million won for a person who violates the compliance duties under Article 5(1) through (4). The prohibition on arbitrary mixing and repackaging in Article 5(3), and the compliance duties in Article 12-2 of the Enforcement Rule made under Article 5(4), fall within that range.

There are administrative fines as well. Article 40(1) of the Act provides for an administrative fine of up to 1 million won, and its subparagraph 1-2 covers a person who uses the compounding manager title or a similar title in violation of Article 3-7, subparagraph 3-2 covers a person who fails to report the list of customized cosmetics raw materials in violation of Article 5(6), and subparagraph 4 covers a person who fails to receive training in violation of Article 5(7).

A training order is also connected. Article 14(2), subparagraph 5 of the Enforcement Rule makes a customized cosmetics seller who has violated the compliance duties in Article 12-2 a target of the training order under Article 5(8) of the Act.

Article 39 of the Act is the joint penalty provision. Where a representative of a corporation, or an employee or other agent, commits a violation under Articles 36 through 38 in connection with the business of that corporation or individual, the corporation or individual is also fined in addition to the offender, unless it did not neglect due care and supervision to prevent the violation.

If you want the whole liability structure of a brand that includes a customized counter, read it together with the brand owner's duties. To review a bulk composition together, tell us through contact, and the other articles are in insights.

15. Frequently asked questions

Is everything blended for a customer in store a customized cosmetic?

Article 2(3-2) of the Act defines two forms: contents of a manufactured or imported cosmetic mixed with other contents or with a raw material designated by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety, and those contents divided into smaller units. Both start from manufactured or imported contents, so the first thing to check is what material the work starts from. Whether a specific case falls within the definition is best confirmed with the competent regional Food and Drug Safety Office.

Does decanting cosmetic soap need a notification?

The proviso to Article 2(3-2)(b) of the Act excludes from customized cosmetics a cosmetic made by simply repackaging the contents of solid soap or other cosmetics prescribed by Ordinance of the Prime Minister, and Article 2-2 of the Enforcement Rule sets that product as solid facial-cleansing soap. Simply repackaged cosmetic soap is therefore not a customized cosmetic. That provision is about the definition, not an exemption from the other duties that apply to selling cosmetics.

If the owner holds the compounding manager qualification, is one needed at every store?

Article 8-2(4) of the Enforcement Rule provides that where the seller has passed the qualifying examination, the seller may perform compounding manager work at one of the seller's sales establishments, and that establishment is then deemed to have a compounding manager. Because the provision is limited to "one of the sales establishments," it does not mean several stores can all be covered by one person's qualification.

Can a functional active be added and a claim such as wrinkle improvement used?

On the raw material side, Article 5, subparagraph 3 of the Regulation on Safety Standards for Cosmetics and its proviso govern. Raw materials producing the efficacy of a functional cosmetic are excluded in principle, and they come out of that exclusion where the responsible distributor supplying the raw material has undergone screening for, or filed a report on, a functional cosmetic including it under Article 4 of the Act. Labelling and advertising are governed by separate provisions, so it is worth checking claim substantiation alongside this.

How does a one-month pop-up store work?

The proviso to Article 8-2(1) of the Enforcement Rule deals separately with a seller who has already filed and intends to carry on the same business temporarily, within a range of one month, at a place other than the notified location, and requires the notification to be submitted with a copy of the notification certificate and a copy of the compounding manager's certificate. Subparagraph 6 of Article 8-2(3) has the period of business entered in the register only in that case. Confirm the exact timing and procedure with the competent regional Food and Drug Safety Office.