Why Korean Sunscreens Can’t Be Sold In Australia

Those of us who live Down Under know that Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, so sunscreen is a key part of our daily skincare routines.

Today, we’re exploring why Korean sunscreens can’t be sold in Australia…but it’s not for the reasons you might think!

Why Korean Sunscreens?

Korean (and Asian sunscreens in general) are beloved by beauty lovers all over the world for their cosmetically elegant formulas that don’t leave a white cast and blend well with makeup.

Unfortunately, they’re not as easy to get our hands on as we’d like, especially in Australia (or at least not through reputable retail channels). 

Have you ever wondered why you only see Korean sunscreens for sale in random Asian beauty stores but not at bigger retailers like Mecca, Sephora, Priceline or Chemist Warehouse? 

It's simply because they aren't allowed to sell them. And here's why. 

What Is Sunscreen?

Although it probably goes without saying, sunscreen is used to protect skin from the harmful rays of the sun. Sunscreen products themselves contain substances that either absorb or reflect the sun’s UV rays and prevent most of it from penetrating the skin and damaging skin cells.

In Australia, thanks to our extra harsh UV factor, the sunscreens we use need to be safe and effective in order to prevent skin cancer and sun damage.

That's why we have strict regulations in place around both supplying (i.e. selling) and marketing sunscreen products. 

Regulation Of Sunscreen In Australia

In Australia, the sale of sunscreens is regulated by a body called the Therapeutic Goods Administration (the “TGA“). You can think of it like America’s Food and Drug Authority (the "FDA"). The TGA is in charge of medicines, poisons, drugs and ... you guessed it, sunscreen. 

The TGA classifies sunscreens as products that are “primarily used for protection from UV radiation and have an SPF of 4 or more”. In addition, the TGA also regulates the sale of moisturisers that contain sunscreen with an SPF greater than 15. Makeup is excluded from the TGA's regime. 

The TGA requires that in order to be sold in Australia, sunscreen products must be tested to determine their SPF, which is printed on the label. Only approved ingredients can be included in sunscreens, and each of these ingredients has been assessed for safety.

Before a sunscreen can be legally marketed in Australia, it needs to be included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (the “ARTG“), a link to which can be found here.

In short, this is the reason why Korean sunscreens (or at least, none that we know of!) are able to legally be sold in Australia – yet. At present, none of them are listed on the ARTG.

Sunscreen Testing In Australia

As you might expect from a country that has some of the harshest rays in the world, it is not a simple process to apply to have a product listed on the ARTG. In fact, Australia is well known for being one of the most difficult countries in the world for a product to pass testing.

First off, sunscreens must be manufactured in a TGA approved manufacturing facility. This acts as somewhat of a barrier to foreign-made sunscreen products because there aren't many overseas manufacturing facilities that have TGA approval. 

Secondly, sunscreens approved in Australia can only use TGA approved UV filters – each of which must have already been assessed for safety. 

The Australian Regulatory Guidelines

Sunscreens must comply with the Australian Regulatory Guidelines. These include requirements to:

• reproduce SPF test results; 
• undertake water resistance tests and stability testing; 
• comply with manufacture and quality control conditions, and
• obtain permits to use new ingredients.

There are a laundry list of other requirements.

Labelling

In 2012, the TGA made changes to how sunscreen products were authorised for supply in Australia. The move incorporated changes to labelling, including for sunscreens with a rating of up to SPF 50+.

They also set stringent requirements for ‘broad spectrum performance’ sunscreen. ‘Broad spectrum performance’ means that a sunscreen also protects against UVA rays. To reach that requirement, the UVA level must be at one third of the SPF level.

In Australia, if a sunscreen has an SPF 50+ rating, it must have passed testing at a least SPF 60+. This means that it needs to maintain a UVA protection level of at least 20 (ie. 1/3 of 60).

This is not the case in Korea, where sunscreens do not have to test at SPF 60+ to be given a SPF 50+ rating, nor do they need to main a UVA level of one third of the SPF level. Korea uses an entirely different system, the PA system, to rate UVA protection. 

Korean sunscreens often have a much lower level of UVA protection than Australian sunscreens (16 is common). 

Cost Of Testing

Companies pay a fortune to have their SPF products tested to be able to sell them in Australia. It’s a massive investment of both time and money, and there aren’t too many companies who can afford to make this investment without a guaranteed pay off.

Banana Boat, one popular local maker of TGA-approved sunscreens claims that it takes “about three years” for them to bring a new sunscreen product to the Australian market.

Other companies, including Zoe Foster-Blake’s “Go-To” skincare, have attempted to release a cosmetically elegant sunscreen to the Australian market, only to be given a mere 15+ SPF sun protection rating in the past – nowhere near enough to be used for a day at the beach.

On the one hand, having such strict regulations is great because it ensures that all sunscreens that hit our shores have been SPF tested by their producer. It also means these companies can be held legally accountable for any failures.

On the other hand, it means that the process for introducing new sunscreen products to Australia is much more difficult. This means that Australian-approved sunscreens tend to rely on old chemicals like “nano titanium dioxide” and “zinc oxide” to provide sun protection, which are not as cosmetically elegant as newer types of sunscreen ingredients.

Sunscreen Testing In Korea

In Korea, companies have better access to more sunscreen ingredients to work with, which is a result of the faster moving regulations. The approval process for them is much quicker, meaning newer and innovative sunscreen formulas can improve on issues that the older formulas have.

Korean beauty brand also don't tend to focus on things such as waterproofing their sunscreens, which makes them much more cosmetically elegant but much less suited for the Australian climate or for common outdoor activities like swimming.

The Korean regulations are also much more lenient with how much the SPF level of a waterproof sunscreen can drop after exposure to water than the Australian regulations. This makes sense when you consider how little most Koreans spend time outdoors compared with Australians. 

A common observation by many is that Korean sunscreens feel different, as they feel less chalky and heavy and don’t leave a white cast.

Quite simply - Koreans use sunscreen in a very different way than most Australians.As a general rule, Koreans don't spend much time out in the sun, and if they do, they wear protective clothing like UV gloves, hats, face masks, UV jackets (even in summer) and sun patches. The Korean government instals large umbrellas at intersections in the summer so that people can stand in the shade while waiting to cross the road rather than in the sun. 

Australians, on the other hand, often use sunscreen as their primary defence against the sun. We have an outdoor culture that spends a lot of time in the sun, so we require a different level of protection. 

Why Korean Sunscreens Can’t Be Sold In Australia?

Until a Korean beauty company is willing to submit their sunscreen to the sunscreen testing processes in Australia, Korean sunscreens aren’t legally available for sale here.

Doing this would require significant time and money to satisfy Australian regulators that Korean products live up to their stated claims.

This doesn’t mean that Korean sunscreen products don’t do what they say (i.e. provide sun protection). It’s just that they aren’t allowed to make these claims yet here in Australia. At present, none of the Korean sunscreens that we know of have attempted to go through the TGA application process.

Some Asian beauty retailers in Australia would have you believe that Korean sunscreens are able to be sold in Australia because they fall under a so-called "exemption" for cosmetic sunscreens. This is nonsense.

 If a sunscreen product is designed as a form of primary sunscreen protection then a retailer cannot by-pass the TGA's regulations simply by claiming that the product is a cosmetic and not a therapeutic good.  If that was the case, bigger retailers like Mecca, Sephora, Priceline and Chemist Warehouse would be stocking the sunscreen products of the Korean skin care lines they sell. They don't do that because it's not legal. 

It is possible that a Korean brand itself could potentially sell a product this way (i.e by completely re-naming and re-packaging the product for the Australian market, removing all references to UVA / UVA, sun protection, SPF etc) but we have yet to see an example of this being done by a Korean brand. 

Our Advice?

Stick to TGA approved sunscreens for sun protection in Australia.

The TGA system may not be perfect, but companies who have passed through the regulatory process here in Australia are at least subject to ongoing monitoring once they are on the market. The same cannot be said for sunscreens that aren’t even registered here.

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