Indonesia’s Cosmetic Ingredient Deadline Is Here—Why Beauty Formulas Can Differ by Market

October 3, 2026 · 4:21 p.m. ET

By Regina Bonham Bordeaux

A cosmetic-regulation deadline takes effect in Indonesia today, October 3, 2026. Cosmetic products that were already notified for sale before BPOM Regulation No. 25 of 2025 took effect had a 12-month transition period to meet the updated technical ingredient requirements. BPOM says those products had to be adjusted no later than October 3, 2026.^[1]

For you, the important point is not that a U.S. version of the same product suddenly became unsafe. It is that the same product name can hide different formulas across markets—and today’s deadline is a concrete example of how local ingredient rules can create those differences.

What changed today

The regulation itself is not new today. BPOM lists Regulation No. 25 of 2025 as currently in force, and it replaced earlier Indonesian cosmetic-ingredient requirements.^[2]

What changes on October 3, 2026 is the transition status for products that already held Indonesian cosmetic notification numbers. BPOM says those products were required to be brought into line with the newer technical requirements by today.^[1]

For manufacturers, compliance can mean reformulating, updating product notifications, or otherwise adjusting an Indonesian-market product to meet the newer requirements. For you, it means an ingredient list on an older bottle, retailer page, or overseas review may no longer match the newest Indonesian-market version.

Why this matters when you shop across markets

Beauty products can share a name and nearly identical packaging without sharing the exact same formula everywhere they are sold.

That matters when you compare an overseas ingredient list with a U.S. bottle, use an international review to make a buying decision, or buy an imported version of a familiar product. Before assuming two versions are interchangeable, check the market, the current package, and the ingredient list for the exact product you can buy.

Which ingredient changes matter

BPOM says Regulation No. 25 of 2025 was designed in part to harmonize Indonesian cosmetic standards with the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive. Among the changes BPOM highlighted during implementation are:

• Homosalate: use is restricted to facial cosmetics.
• Benzophenone-3, or oxybenzone: the maximum is 6% in face, hand, and lip products and 2.2% in body products.
• Zinc pyrithione: the maximum concentration for rinse-off hair products was lowered to 1%.
• Chlorophene: removed from the list of permitted preservatives.
• Prohibited substances: BPOM says about 101 substances were added to the prohibited list, with examples including Lilial, styrene, and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, or D4.

Those are regulatory conditions for the Indonesian market. A restriction, concentration limit, or prohibition in one jurisdiction does not by itself establish that every product using a different permitted concentration elsewhere is unsafe.^[3]

What this means if you shop in the U.S.

The October 3 deadline does not change U.S. cosmetic or sunscreen law. It also does not mean a U.S.-market product has to use the same formula as its Indonesian counterpart.

This matters most when you buy imported beauty products, compare ingredient lists from different countries, or see a social post claim that an ingredient is “banned” everywhere because one market changed its rules. Check the exact market version before assuming two packages with the same product name contain the same formula.

Sunscreen is an especially useful example. Homosalate and oxybenzone are regulated differently across markets, so international ingredient limits should be read in their actual regulatory context. BB’s guide to choosing sunscreen without falling for safety misinformation explains why a regulatory difference is not, by itself, proof that one market’s formula is dangerous.

What we’re watching

The useful next step is product-level: which brands reformulate Indonesian-market products, whether familiar international formulas begin to diverge more visibly by market, and whether companies clearly update ingredient lists as older inventory turns over.

BB will also watch whether similar ASEAN-aligned ingredient changes create practical differences you can see across regional versions of the same beauty products.