Regulation to guide beauty industry
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-30 00:47

Customers will soon be able to step into hair salons with confidence as the Ministry of Commerce plans to make public a regulation to govern the booming but complaint-beset beauty and cosmetics industry.

The ministry is circulating a recently-finished draft regulation, which will soon appear on its official website for the public comment.

Pan Xiaoming, president assistant of China Beauty and Cosmetics Chamber(CBCC) said Monday the regulation will play a big role in the growing sector.

Some 120 million people work in the industry which involves investment of between 200-300 billion yuan (US$24-36 billion).

Pan, who helped draft the regulation, said a nationwide survey has been launched to determine the status of the sector.

With larger pockets since the 1980s, many Chinese are willing to spend more on hair and beauty products. Streets in some cities are filled with salons and parlors. Statistics show that each urban resident currently spends an average of 30 yuan (US$3.70) on cosmetics every month.

However, an estimate from the China Cosmetology and Hairdressing Association says there have been more than 200,000 malpractice lawsuits filed in the last decade.

Luo Feng, a 30-year-old company staffer in Beijing said the regulation is expected to act as weapon for customers.

"The cosmetics industry has big potential for profits; and as a result, practitioners try to make money by any means, legal or illegal," said Luo, who is always hesitant to step into salons, especially in strange cities.

Statistics indicate that only 11.7 per cent of practitioners have a higher education. Most have not even attended qualified training programmes.

He also blames the disordered cosmetics market, saying that there should be an organized institution to issue standards and regulations.

Lin Xiaoying, aged 37, pinned hopes that the power of market watchdogs will be well-defined in the upcoming regulation.

"The sector's disorder is not only caused by practitioners, but also by market watchdogs," said Lin, who once owned a hair salon in Beijing's Xicheng District.

She said her salon closed several times after problems with the district's market supervisors.

At the same time, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce last year found that the cosmetic-surgery sector is one of four industries beset by problems.

Statistics from the Chinese Consumers' Association also show that consumer complaints are increasing, with an average of 20,000 lawsuits filed every year.

"I'm quite upbeat about the future of the sector because loving beauty is human nature," Pan said.

He mainly attributed the problems to the lack of a legal framework and regulations.

In the past, several governmental departments have been in charge of dealing with complaints, but none of them is ultimately responsible, said Pan.

"The good news is that the Ministry of Commerce has been solely authorized to govern the sector."

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