The U.S.–China Health Products Association (USCHPA) submitted its comments and suggestions to China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Legal Committee. USCHPA’s report focused on Articles 65 and 66 of the new Food Safety Law Draft that was circulated for public comment in the beginning of July 2014. These two articles pertain to dietary supplements or as they are termed in the report “Health Food”.

Since 2010, USCHPA has been sharing information with both the Chinese and U.S. governments in regard to moving China’s dietary supplement industry toward a more open and transparent system.

Those efforts have led to China looking to adopt a notification system for certain ingredients. This is great news and a step in the right direction, says USCHPA’s executive director Jeff Crowther. However, he warns that most formula based products or ingredients that have yet to enter the market will still need to go through China Food and Drug Administration’s registration process, which takes about two to three years to navigate and costs in excess of hundred thousand U.S. dollars.

The entire report can be viewed here.