Korean Cosmetics Wholesale in France

1 September 2026 · The Glow Trade

A pallet arrives at a shop in the 11th and everything about it is correct. The products are notified, the invoice is from a real European wholesaler, the cartons are undamaged. It still cannot go on the shelf, because the only French on the packaging is the price sticker. Four things settle that, and only one of them is in the EU regulation everybody reads.

The short version

Article 2 of the loi Toubon (4 August 1994) requires French for a cosmetic's content, durability, precautions for use and function, but not for the INCI ingredient list.
Packaging placed first on the French market needs a SYDEREP identifiant unique under Code de l'environnement Article L541-10-13, a duty that has applied since 1 January 2022 regardless of which EU country the buyer purchased from.
From 1 September 2026, every French business must be able to receive invoices electronically through an approved platform; smaller firms start issuing electronically and begin e-reporting on 1 September 2027.

Which words have to be French, and which do not

Article 19(5) of the EU cosmetics regulation hands the language question to the member state where the product reaches the end user. France answers with Article 2 of the loi Toubon of 4 August 1994, still in force on 1 September 2026, requiring French in the designation, presentation and instructions for use of any good sold here.

Four label elements sit inside that: nominal content, the durability date or the period after opening, the precautions for use, and the product's function. The ingredient list does not. Article 19(5) covers points (b), (c), (d) and (f) and leaves out (g), so INCI stays INCI and Butylene Glycol is not translated into anything.

DGCCRF polices Article 2 at every stage of distribution, online selling included, and a breach is a fourth class contravention under the 1995 implementing decree. Trivial per unit. You have several hundred units. Since 1 January 2024 DGCCRF has also been the single authority for cosmetic products in France, and cosmetovigilance moved to ANSES, so a customer reaction reported to you no longer goes to the agency your Korean supplier has heard of.

None of that moves the file. The responsible person role follows the importer, and Article 4(6) confirms translating a label does not shift it to you. Article 13(3) does make printing that French sticker yourself a notification duty.

Two French duties that follow the goods, not the invoice

Since 1 January 2022, Article L541-9-3 of the Code de l'environnement, applied by décret n° 2021-835 of 29 June 2021, requires household products under an extended producer responsibility scheme to carry the Triman mark plus the info tri detail telling the buyer how to separate the parts. Korean packaging never has it, and a sheet mask sleeve with no sorting mark is not ready for a French shelf.

The second is the expensive one. For EPR purposes the producer is whoever first places the packaging on the French national market, so buying from a Spanish or an Austrian wholesaler does not move it off you. It means joining an eco-organisme and holding an identifiant unique issued through SYDEREP under Article L541-10-13.

That hands a French buyer a check nobody else in Europe has: the SYDEREP producer register is public, so a supplier claiming to carry your packaging obligation either appears in it or does not.

The money, and the invoicing rule that changed this week

Duty is what people budget for and it is mostly zero. TARIC read on 1 September 2026 for Korean origin puts the third country rate on serums, essences, sunscreens, sheet masks, make up and shampoo at 0 %, so the origin paperwork buys nothing on those lines. It pays only on deodorants, bath preparations, wipes and liquid cleansers. The rest of the arithmetic is in what importing from Korea really costs.

Import VAT is where France treats a small importer well. Since 1 January 2022 reverse charging it has been mandatory and automatic for every business identified for VAT in France, so nothing is paid in cash at the border. You need a valid French intracommunity VAT number on the declaration. The import boxes on your CA3 are pre filled on the 14th of the following month and the return is due on the 24th. Put those ten days in the calendar: the pre filled figure is whatever your forwarder typed, and the tax office expects you to check it. Cosmetics are at 20 %.

Then the reform that landed this week. Since 1 September 2026 every French business has to be able to receive invoices electronically through an approved platform, and a PDF by e-mail is no longer an invoice. Smaller firms start issuing electronically on 1 September 2027, and the same date starts their e-reporting. Buying goods from a supplier in another member state falls inside e-reporting; importing from outside the EU falls outside it, because customs already sends the data.

Our position on the route

Korean cosmetics exports to France reached USD 134.05 million in 2025, up 71.5 %, and France entered Korea's top 20 destinations for the first time, on MFDS figures reported in May 2026. Demand arrived; the compliance layer did not.

For a French independent, buy inside the EU, from a supplier whose stock already carries the French layer. Not direct from Korea, and not from whichever European wholesaler is cheapest per unit while shipping Korean language packs.

The reason is the shape of the cost rather than its size. Compliance here scales with the number of references you list, not the volume you sell of each, and a shop wanting two hundred Korean references is the worst possible shape for that. Buy direct and you take the responsible person role, a safety report per product, a ten year file, the French over labelling, the Triman artwork and the EPR registration. Buy a French ready pack and the job shrinks to a check at goods in.

Direct import is cheaper on the invoice. That gap is the price of the work above, not margin, and the question is who spreads it across two hundred references and who across two. One cost of this route deserves naming: buying inside the EU puts you into e-reporting from 2027, where a Korean import would not. The same call in Italy lands elsewhere.

The check almost nobody runs

The DGCCRF publishes its sanctions and injunctions in a public register, updated daily, with company name, SIRET, the amount and the grounds. It calls the practice name and shame in its own words, and around 230 sanctions were published in 2022 alone. A separate list names the websites blocked by requisition numerique. Before you commit to a French supplier or a French customer, that register takes two minutes and nobody looks at it.

Worth knowing why it fills up. In an audit published in February 2026, the DGCCRF examined just over 200 product information files across 147 mostly very small cosmetics businesses. Twenty six presented complete or near complete dossiers. Twenty six had none at all. The safety report was missing or incomplete in close to half the companies controlled. That is the base rate you are buying into when a small French supplier tells you everything is in order.

The French shelf readiness checklist

Work through this on one sample unit from the batch you are about to buy, not on a photograph.

An EU responsible person name and address printed on the unit, with the country of origin stated, because the product is imported.
Nominal content, durability date or period after opening symbol, precautions for use, and the product's function, all four in French.
Ingredient list present, headed by the word ingredients, in INCI. No translation needed.
Batch number readable on the unit or on the outer pack.
Triman mark plus info tri, on the pack or on accompanying material.
Durability date with enough life left for your sell through, not merely unexpired today.
Sunscreens only: an SPF and a UVA figure traceable to a test report. Commission Recommendation 2006/647/EC point 10 sets a minimum of SPF 6 and UVA protection of one third of the SPF, and Korean testing is not automatically the same method.
Selling online too: the INCI list on the product page before checkout, which DGCCRF treats as substantial information under Article L.111-1 of the Code de la consommation.

Send these six to the supplier and keep the reply.

Which legal entity is the EU responsible person for the units on this invoice, and does its name and address appear on the label as you will deliver it?
Are the units delivered with French text already applied for content, durability, precautions and function? If not, who writes the wording and who signs it off?
Do the packs carry the Triman mark and info tri as delivered? If not, who applies them?
Do you hold a French identifiant unique for household packaging, and what is the number?
In which member state were these units first placed on the market, and are you the party that placed them there?
What is the earliest durability date in the batch you will ship me?

Question four separates suppliers, because a public register settles it in a minute. Question five decides whether you are a distributor with a checklist or the first party on the French market with a registration to make.

Questions buyers ask

Do I need a French SIRET number to buy Korean cosmetics wholesale?

No law makes one a condition of sale, but most wholesale accounts want proof of a registered business, and a valid EU VAT number drives the invoicing and reverse charge described above. A French SIRET is the standard proof for a business established in France; a VAT number from another EU member state usually opens an account too. Neither document touches the cosmetics labelling, EPR or responsible person duties, so treat it as an account opening formality, not a compliance step.

Is a distributor agreement required to sell Korean cosmetics in France?

No French or EU rule makes a distributor agreement a condition of sale. The law requires that someone in the EU holds the responsible person role under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 before the product reaches a French shelf, and that role can sit with the importer instead of a distributor. If a supplier claims exclusive distributor status for a Korean brand, ask them to produce the brand's own confirmation rather than take the claim on its word.

What happens if a product doesn't have CPNP notification yet?

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 requires the responsible person to notify a cosmetic product through the Cosmetic Products Notification Portal before it reaches the EU market, so an unnotified product cannot legally be sold in France no matter how complete its paperwork looks. Notification sits with whoever takes the responsible person role, usually the importer rather than the Korean manufacturer in a direct import. Ask for the notification reference before committing to a batch; a missing one stops the sale at the same point a DGCCRF check would.

Sources

Statute text, the customs and tax pages and the TARIC rates above were read on 1 September 2026. General information, not legal advice; put a specific product or supply chain to a qualified adviser or to your local DDPP.

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