Shipments of cosmetics in Japan were worth a total of 1,507 billion yen in 2015. In the same year, Japan imported cosmetics valued at about 244 billion yen, of which some 82 billion yen related to cosmetics from the EU.
European cosmetic and quasi-drug products account for such a large share of imports but continue to face substantial market access barriers, such as an overly restrictive regulatory environment, an overly complex product approval system and complicated manufacturing requirements. The committee aims for alignment of Japanese regulations with the rules of the EU which would substantially improve market access and unlock significant potential in the market.