Jakarta seizes 2.2 billion rupiah in illegal imports of Chinese cosmetics

The Head of BPOM, accompanied by the Supervisory Coordinator (Korwas), PPNS Metro Jaya District Police (Polda) and the National Army Strategic Intelligence Service (BAIS TNI), held a press conference titled "BPOM, in cooperation with the National Police, seized an online store of illegally imported cosmetics". The press conference was held in the company of personnel from the BPOM and the National Police.Deputy Representative of Law Enforcement, Head of Jakarta POM Center, Head of Regional Office and Daily Executive Director of Jakarta Customs Administration, Operational Controller of Kerinci Task Force and Commander of Geospasika Intelligence Sector of the National Intelligence Agency (BAIS), Head of Trade and Industry First Unit (Indag), Coordinator of Senior Public Prosecutor's Office, etc. also participated in this event. Industry First Unit (Indag) Head, Coordinator of the Senior Public Prosecutor's Office, among others, also participated in the event. The press conference showed the results of the investigation into the use of "Kimberlybeauty88" in the warehouses of online stores located in Jl. Jelambar Utama and Taman Duta Mas Blok A3/24, Jelambar Baru, Grogol Petamburan, Jakarta Barat, and two other locations. Kimberlybeauty88" account to sell illegal cosmetics.Law enforcers seized 158 categories (152,744 pieces) of cosmetic products without distribution license (TIE) from China under the brands Lameila and SVMY, and the economic value of these products imported through freight forwarding services is estimated to be more than 2.2 billion dong.At the warehouse location, they also found imported cosmetic packages ready to be sent, electronic devices and documents used for online transactions.In his speech, the head of BBPOM said BBPOM Jakarta had confiscated all the exhibits for further investigation. The owner of the online store, who is 25 years old, has been selling cosmetics on the Shopee and Tokopedia platforms for about a year, with online sales of about 400 pieces per day.

Most of the confiscated products were cosmetics, such as powders, lipsticks, eye shadows, eyeliners and mascaras, as well as foundations, concealers and air mattresses. These illegal products were suspected of containing dyes banned from cosmetics, namely Red K-3 and Red K-10. the dangerous ingredients in these cosmetics may be carcinogenic, causing skin cancer, liver cancer and liver dysfunction.BPOM will conduct further investigation and coordinate with Korwas PPNS Polri, and after the National Police handles the case, the case file will be transferred to the Jakarta Provincial Senior Prosecutor's Office, and violators can be sentenced to up to 12 years of imprisonment or a fine of up to Rp 5 billion. Based on these latest findings, BBPOM Jakarta conducted investigative actions on 6 cases during 2024, 5 cases in the field of pharmaceutical preparations and 1 case in the field of food. Out of these 5 cases, 2 cases were cases of illegal cosmetics with an evidential economic value of 5.8 billion rupiahs.In September 2024, BPOM also succeeded in confiscating illegally imported cosmetics valued at more than 11.4 billion rupiahs together with the Ministry of Trade. The seized products were cosmetic products without distribution licenses and containing banned ingredients, some of which also came from China. The discovery of Lameila was one of the previously seized cosmetic brands. The cosmetics business is a strategic and potential business to support Indonesia's economic growth, BPOM noted that more than 50% of the products approved by BPOM in the past 5 years with a distribution license number (NIE) were cosmetic products, however, it is important that this business is conducted without disregarding the safety and health aspects stipulated in the applicable regulations.

It needs to be emphasized that BPOM is firm, this does not mean that it does not love MSMEs, but it wants to protect MSMEs and industries, so they have to take action against illegal goods. Failure to take action could harm the wider community, so this is an effort to uphold the main pillars of BPOM. The pillars of government as the regulator, business as the producer and distributor, and the community as the consumer have to play their respective roles well to form a synergy between the supply and demand of safe and quality medicinal food products.The BPOM chief advised the business players to comply with the applicable regulations and take the primary responsibility for the safety and quality of the products they produce and distribute to the public. He also urged the public to always check the packaging, labeling, marketing licenses and expiration dates of medicines and food products before purchasing or using them, and to refrain from using cosmetic products that do not have marketing licenses as they may contain hazardous ingredients that pose a risk to health.The BPOM head also educated the public to check through the https://cekbpom.pom.go.id/页面或BPOM mobile apps products to know which products have a BPOM distribution license. He urged the public to buy and obtain cosmetics from trusted distribution organizations and if buying cosmetics online, make sure to buy them through regular or trusted stores and not to be influenced by over-promotion and advertisements with immediate results. Consumers should educate themselves, broaden their horizons, improve their knowledge of safe drugs and food, and immediately report to BPOM through Balai Besar/Balai POM as well as Loka POM or local law enforcement officials if they know or suspect illegal production, storage or distribution of drugs and food locally.