Verifying Efficacy of Protection Levels in Sunscreen Products

Mr Alex Yam asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry has assessed if sunscreen products sold in Singapore have discrepancies between their labelled and actual SPF protection levels; (b) what regulatory measures are in place to verify the accuracy of products with medical efficacy claims to ensure consumer safety; and (c) whether the Ministry will review current testing and lab accreditation standards to prevent such incidents locally.

Sunscreen products are regulated as cosmetic products under the Health Products Act by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA). No pre-market approval is required as they are not intended to prevent, treat or cure diseases. Instead, dealers have to notify HSA before placing their products on the local market. Dealers and sellers must also ensure that their products comply with labelling requirements and that the claims made on their product labels can be substantiated and are not false or misleading. Specifically for sunscreen products, they must only contain UV filters assessed to be safe and effective in providing protection against harmful UV rays.

HSA conducts risk-based post-market surveillance to monitor the compliance of cosmetic products sold locally. Sunscreen products are sampled and tested to verify the presence of the UV filters declared on product labels and that the UV filters comply with regulatory limits.

HSA monitors online news and regulatory actions by competent authorities, conducting follow-up actions when needed. HSA is therefore aware that there have been product recalls of sunscreen products in Australia. Australia's regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), has listed 21 products with a base formula that are likely to fail SPF testing. These products are not notified for sale in Singapore.

There are two products notified with HSA, which are under investigation by TGA after tests by an Australian consumer protection organisation which disputed the SPF test results. HSA is working with the local company marketing these products to verify the accuracy of their SPF claims, and not to distribute the products until the SPF test reports are found to be satisfactory. Additionally, HSA will conduct checks on SPF test reports from suppliers of other sunscreen products notified with HSA.

Suppliers found to be selling or supplying non-compliant cosmetic products or cosmetic products with misleading claims may face penalties of up to $50,000 in fines or imprisonment for up to two years, or both.

HSA will continue to ensure that our testing and laboratory accreditation standards are aligned with international best practices.