Expertise · Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals
In cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, a product can look perfect on the outside and have lost its efficacy on the inside. A cream that separated in the heat, an active ingredient that degraded at a terminal in the sun, a lot that arrived without the label the Chilean regulation requires.
None of that is visible when the container is opened. That is why it is controlled beforehand.
Two industries with a shared requirement
Pharmaceuticals are considerably stricter. But they share three things that define how they are transported.
Raw material or finished product
Packed, labeled and ready for sale. It is what reaches the consumer, and that is why it is what the health authority controls most: product registration, labeling in Spanish with the information the regulation requires, and authorization of each import.
Active ingredients, excipients, fragrances, bases, packaging. They arrive at a laboratory or plant that turns them into a finished product in Chile. The control is different: it centers on who receives it —normally an authorized establishment— and on lot traceability. But transport is usually more demanding, not less: many raw materials are more sensitive to temperature and humidity than the final product, and some are dangerous goods in their concentrated form even if the finished product is not.
Misclassifying a cargo in this category —declaring as raw material something that is sold as it is, or the other way round— is among the errors that hold up the most shipments in this sector.
What we have moved
What it was
What it was
The risk nobody sees
Many people assume that if a product does not need refrigeration, it does not need temperature care. It is an expensive mistake. A good part of pharmaceutical products and many cosmetics must be kept at controlled ambient temperature: a moderate range, with no extreme heat or freezing. And a dry container does not guarantee that.
A metal container exposed to the sun works like an oven. At a tropical terminal, or waiting to board in the height of summer, the interior temperature can far exceed that of the outside environment. In that range:
And the other way round: in winter or on mountain routes, freezing breaks emulsions and crystallizes solutions in the same irreversible way.
How it is controlled
What most compromises an operation in this sector
It is the first thing worth understanding, because confusing them is the origin of most delays.
Product authorization. It is obtained from the ISP once per product. For cosmetics there are two routes depending on the category: health registration, or notification for hygiene, low-risk and air-freshener products. For medicines, registration, and considerably more demanding.
Control of each import. Cosmetics and their raw materials are subject to ISP import control, which means the cargo is not freely released from customs. A Customs Destination Certificate is processed, issued by the ISP, to move it to a warehouse with a valid health authorization.
That certificate authorizes the move, not the sale. Depending on the product, the authorization for use and disposal is then needed before it can be marketed. Confusing the two steps is among the errors that delay going on sale the most. See trade compliance.
Whoever brings in a line of twenty references needs twenty product authorizations. That defines the calendar of the whole project, not of the shipment.
Most of the problems of a cosmetics import do not happen at customs. They happen earlier, in decisions already made.
The mistakes that cost the most
Labeling
The finished product must arrive with the labeling the Chilean regulation requires: in Spanish, with the mandatory health information and the importer’s and manufacturer’s details.
There are two ways to solve it. Label at origin, which requires coordinating with the supplier before producing the lot. Or label in Chile after the import, at a facility authorized to do so.
In both cases, the label artwork is checked against the regulation before printing, not when the cargo has already arrived. And the decision is made before shipping: a lot that arrives without labeling and without having planned where to label it is held.
Other risks specific to the sector
In cosmetics especially, an important proportion of the catalog is dangerous goods: everything that contains alcohol in relevant concentration, aerosols, nail polishes, some removers.
The problem appears when the product travels mixed with cargo that is not, undeclared. By air it is not accepted; by sea it may require segregation. See dangerous goods.
High-value products, easy to resell and hard to trace once outside the chain. The sector has a real risk of pilferage in transit and in warehouses, and of product substitution.
The response is lot-level traceability, seals verified at every handover and minimizing the handling points.
When we choose each route
For volume, scheduled replenishment and raw materials in quantity. It is where most of the sector moves.
What decides it: whether the product’s temperature range admits a dry container or requires a refrigerated one set to ambient temperature. And whether the route crosses zones of extreme heat or spends days at tropical terminals.
What is underestimated: the wait at the terminal. A well-equipped container that spends a week in the sun at the port of origin can cancel all the care taken during the rest of the trip.
For dated launches, samples, urgent replenishment and products with a high value per kilo.
What decides it: that the cargo is not undeclared dangerous goods, which is where most cosmetic shipments are rejected by air. And the time the cargo waits on the apron, which at airports in warm climates can be more critical than the flight itself.
What is advisable: for sensitive pharmaceuticals, services with temperature control throughout the journey, including the wait on the ground.
For the regional corridor and national distribution.
What decides it: that the truck holds the range throughout the journey, including the border crossing, where the wait can be prolonged. And on mountain routes, the risk of freezing in winter, which affects this sector as much as heat does.
Before committing
Next step
The cheapest thing is to sort out the classification and the formula before closing the purchase. Send us the data sheet of each product and we tell you what it requires, under what conditions it must travel and what needs to be resolved before the first shipment.