Importing cosmetics into Iraq: registration and conformity

Cosmetics are reported to be registered with Iraq's federal Ministry of Health. We could not find the procedure, the documents it asks for, its fees or its timetable published anywhere we could read. Iraqi government websites could not be read when this page was written, and the reports we found come from consultancies and certification companies, not from the ministry.

For comparison only: medicines are registered with the ministry's Directorate of Technical Affairs, and the National Center for Drug Control and Research tests products for registration. We could not confirm whether cosmetics pass through the same offices.

Bureau Veritas, one of the certification bodies, lists medical and pharmaceutical products, and borderline products without an Iraqi standard, as exempt from the conformity programme described below. The category of a product therefore comes first. If a cream or serum sits near the line between cosmetic and medicine, ask your lawyer which it is before you file anything.

Iraq's Conformity Assessment Programme has applied since 1 January 2020, according to Intertek. Bureau Veritas names its authority as the Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC), with certificates issued by the companies COSQC appoints; its data sheet of May 2024 lists Bureau Veritas among them. Intertek issued certificates for federal Iraq until 1 March 2023. Check the current list of appointed bodies with COSQC.

What the two bodies describe:

• Which goods. Regulated products include cosmetics and chemicals. Intertek lists "chemicals, cosmetics and perfumery products"; Bureau Veritas has one group for cosmetics, personal hygiene products and cleaning agents, and another for chemicals.
• Per consignment, before shipment. Each consignment of regulated goods travels with its own certificate, issued before shipment by the certification body's office in the exporter's region.
• On arrival. The consignment is inspected at the Iraqi port or border crossing. Bureau Veritas describes a check that the certificate matches the import documents and the goods, which Iraqi Customs, the Ministry of Health or COSQC may ask to witness.
• Routes. Bureau Veritas offers a basic route for single consignments and a registration route for exporters who ship the same products regularly.
• Fees. Bureau Veritas's data sheet of May 2024 charges USD 320 for a consignment worth up to USD 80,000 FOB, plus a border inspection fee for each container or truck. Other bodies set their own fees.

The documents Intertek listed

1. A completed request for certification form.
2. A proforma invoice, if available.
3. A product data sheet or product description.
4. Production details: the lot number and the production and expiry dates.
5. Evidence of compliance: test reports, and halal, health, phytosanitary or free-sale certificates where they apply.
6. The transport document (bill of lading, air waybill or CMR), if available.
7. A letter of credit, if available.
8. The certificate of origin.

Bureau Veritas also asks for the final invoice and the packing list. Check the current list with the body you use before you ship.

Bureau Veritas's data sheet states that every product regulated under the programme must carry Arabic labelling in line with Iraqi standards and technical regulations. It lists the product name, warnings, required instructions for use and, where the applicable standard asks for them, the ingredients, all in Arabic, with the country of origin marked. "EU" or "European Union" is not accepted as a country of origin.

That is a certifier's summary. We have not read the Iraqi cosmetics standard itself; your lawyer and your certification body confirm what your label needs.

The Kurdistan Region may differ, and we could not confirm how. What sources show:

• The region has its own Ministry of Health.
• Bureau Veritas describes the federal programme as covering "Central Iraq".
• Intertek runs a separate Consignment Based Conformity Assessment scheme for the Kurdistan Region, for regulated goods entering through Ibrahim Al Khalil. Its exporter guide, which carries no date, lists toys, electrical goods, vehicles, construction products, medical equipment and similar groups; it does not list cosmetics. It says products outside its list are tested and certified in the region, and tells exporters to check with Kurdistan customs.

Whether a cosmetic registered in Baghdad needs further approval in Erbil, and what the region asks of an imported cosmetic, is for an Iraqi lawyer to confirm.

The Ministry of Trade's State Company for Iraqi Fairs and Commercial Services introduced a Certificate of Registration for manufacturers and suppliers that export to Iraq, issued only by TÜV Rheinland. It began on 1 October 2020 and, from January 2021, became a condition of the importer's import licence, category by category. Ask TÜV Rheinland or your lawyer if your products fall in a covered category.

For each peptide in your formula:

• The INCI name and CAS number, with the function the EU's CosIng inventory records: Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu, CAS 89030-95-5) and Acetyl Octapeptide-3 (known by the Lubrizol trade name SNAP-8, CAS 868844-74-0).
• The manufacturer's certificate of analysis, with every batch: its batch number, dates and test results.
• On request, where the manufacturer issues them: the specification, the safety data sheet, the technical data sheet and the certificate of origin.

These match several items on the certifiers' lists: the product data sheet, the lot number and dates, the test reports and the certificate of origin.

• The Ministry of Health's procedure for a cosmetic: documents, fees, timetable and validity.
• Who files: the brand owner, the importer or an Iraqi agent.
• Whether a peptide ingredient sold to a factory counts as a regulated chemical under the conformity programme.
• The Iraqi labelling standard for cosmetics, and how INCI names appear on an Arabic label.
• The Kurdistan Region's requirements.
• Whether the Certificate of Registration covers our products.

• For cosmetic companies and factories
• Cosmetic-grade peptides
• Request a quote, and list the documents your file needs

We supply businesses only, never individuals, and deliver to your business address in Iraq.