Cosmetics Safety Bill, Counterfeit Devices Bill Advance in House Subcommittee
Two bills that affect imports passed on a voice vote out of the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 11. Committee Chairman Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., noted that the Cosmetic Safety Enhancement Act, H.R. 5279, is a bill he introduced in 2019 “to improve and advance the safety of cosmetics and other personal care products. Congress has not updated FDA’s authority to regulate these products in over 80 years. It is long past time that we act so that we can ensure consumers are safe and have confidence in the products they use every day.”
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A year after passage, the Department of Health and Human Services is required to promulgate rules for verifying foreign suppliers of cosmetics. “Each importer shall perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities for the purpose of verifying that the cosmetic product or cosmetic ingredient imported by the importer (or agent thereof) has been manufactured according to the cosmetic product good manufacturing practices,” and is not adulterated or misbranded. Good manufacturing practices will also be defined by the department.
The other bill, H.R. 5663, Safeguarding Therapeutics Act, introduced by Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., would give the FDA the authority to destroy counterfeit medical devices. No date has been announced for a full committee vote on the bills.