Required Documentation to Register Made in Nigeria Cosmetics
If you are interested in producing and selling any of the following items in Nigeria – skin moisturizers, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail polishes, eye and facial makeup preparations, shampoos, permanent waves, hair colours, toothpastes, and deodorants etc, then you will have to register the product with NAFDAC. NAFDAC is the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control and was set up in 1993 to regulate and control the importation, exportation, manufacture, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals in Nigeria.
Under Nigerian Law, cosmetics includes any substance or mixture of substance intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled or sprayed, introduced into or otherwise applied to the human body or any part thereof for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering the complexion, skin, hair or teeth and includes deodorants and detergent powder.
In order to register a cosmetic with NAFDAC, there are certain important documents which are needed.
Evidence of Business Registration – In order to register a product, the entity registering it must be a registered business, either registered as a registered business name or as a limited liability company. An individual cannot register a product under his/her personal name.
Contract Manufacturing Agreement – this is necessary where the company applying to register the cosmetic product is not the same company who manufactures the cosmetic product. This is the agreement between the manufacturer and the proposed registrant.
Evidence of Registration of Brand Trademark – this is registration of the brand name as a trademark under the appropriate trademark class. For cosmetics, the appropriate class is Class 3.
Evidence of satisfactory Inspection issued by the relevant Directorate or Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificate – Before a cosmetic product can be registered, NAFDAC has to be satisfied that the premises where the cosmetics are being manufactured meet up to the NAFDAC standards, and therefore an inspection is carried out. After the inspection a Certificate is issued, and this certificate must be included with the product registration application.
Sample Product Labels – the application must also contain a sample or mock-up of the label of the product, both the inner and outer label. All cosmetic products labels are to include the brand name, the product lot or batch number, its net content, the expiry date, storage conditions; etc.
Comprehensive Certificate of Analysis – A Certificate of Analysis is a document issued by Quality Assurance laboratory that confirms that a regulated product meets its product specification. The Certificate contains the actual results obtained from testing performed as part of quality control of an individual batch of a product. When this information is to be presented to NAFDAC, it must show the brand name of the product, the batch number of the product, the product manufacturing and expiry dates, and the name, designation and signature of the analyst.
The above are the important documents that must be submitted to NAFDAC when applying for the registration of a cosmetic product, but there are other documents which will need to be submitted, like an application letter, evidence of payment of registration fees etc.
If you are considering registering a cosmetic product with NAFDAC then you should contact their office directly for more information or you could engage the services of a lawyer to assist with you with the entire process.
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We hope you have found this information helpful. Please note that this information is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice. No lawyer-client relationship is formed nor should any such relationship be implied. It is not intended to substitute for the advice of a qualified lawyer. If you require legal advice, please consult with a qualified lawyer.