Sell Korean Skincare Online in Hong Kong: 6 Steps

To sell Korean skincare online in Hong Kong, start with business registration at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).

No special licence is needed to sell ordinary cosmetics, but you must apply for registration within one month of starting the business, follow the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (Cap. 456)¹ and the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362)², and keep records of where your stock came from.

The six steps below are based on Hong Kong government guidance and the ordinance texts. They apply whether you are a Korean brand opening a Hong Kong web shop or a Hong Kong seller sourcing Korean products.

Step 1: Register the business with the IRD

The IRD’s guidance on internet business states that a person carrying on business through the internet must also comply with business registration requirements.

To decide whether online activity is a business carried on in Hong Kong, the IRD looks at where procurement and promotion of goods, solicitation of buyers, delivery and settlement of sales proceeds take place, and at the scale of the operation.

Under section 5 of the Business Registration Ordinance (Cap. 310)³, the application must be made within one month of commencing business, and you can choose a one-year or three-year certificate. Section 12 requires the valid certificate to be displayed at the place of business.

Small businesses that meet the conditions can apply for exemption from the registration fee and levy, but they still have to register.

Step 2: Confirm that each product is an ordinary cosmetic

Ordinary skincare and make-up need no sales licence. A product presented as treating or preventing disease, or acting pharmacologically on body functions, is a pharmaceutical product under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap. 138)⁴: it must be registered and its sales channels are restricted.

Check the classification of products with medicinal ingredients, and of certain hair dyes, before you buy them in.

Step 3: Buy from genuine sources and keep the paperwork

Section 12 of Cap. 362 bans importing goods with a false trade description or a forged trade mark, and section 7 bans selling or supplying them. Keep supplier invoices, packing lists, batch numbers and expiry dates for every order. Hong Kong Customs gives a test certificate from an accredited laboratory as an example of evidence for a due diligence defence.

Step 4: If you import yourself, handle the declaration

If you bring goods in from Korea yourself, regulation 4 of the Import and Export (Registration) Regulations (Cap. 60E)⁵ requires an import declaration no later than 14 days after the day of importation. Regulation 3 exempts, among other things, postal packets whose contents are valued at less than HKD 4,000. Cosmetics are not dutiable, so there is no import duty.

Step 5: Get label warnings right on the pack and the product page

Section 2 of the Consumer Goods Safety Regulation (Cap. 456A)⁶ requires warnings and cautions about keeping, use or disposal to be in both English and Chinese. If a product has only a Korean label with cautions on it, add an English and Chinese sticker. Repeating the same cautions in Chinese and English on your product page also cuts down customer questions.

Step 6: Check claims and selling practices

Product descriptions, including ingredients, performance and origin, are trade descriptions under Cap. 362. Part 2B, added in 2012, prohibits unfair practices such as misleading omissions, aggressive commercial practices and bait advertising, so avoid tactics like advertising an item you do not have in order to sell something else.

Claims to treat skin, hair or scalp diseases are restricted by the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance (Cap. 231)⁷.

Sources

• IRD, internet business and business registration: https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/bre_ib.htm
• IRD, business required to be registered: https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/bre_abr.htm
• Business Registration Ordinance, Cap. 310: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap310!en
• Import and Export (Registration) Regulations, Cap. 60E: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap60E!en
• Trade Descriptions Ordinance, Cap. 362: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap362!en · Consumer Goods Safety Regulation, Cap. 456A: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap456A!en
• Hong Kong Customs, goods safety: https://www.customs.gov.hk/en/service-enforcement-information/consumer-protection/goods-safety/index.html

Related reading: Cosmetics claims in Hong Kong · Hong Kong cosmetics labelling · How to import cosmetics into Hong Kong

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Notes

1. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance (Cap. 456), verified 2026-10-25. ↩

2. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362), verified 2026-10-25. ↩

3. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Business Registration Ordinance (Cap. 310), verified 2026-10-25. ↩

4. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap. 138), verified 2026-10-25. ↩

5. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Import and Export (Registration) Regulations (Cap. 60E), verified 2026-10-25. ↩

6. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Consumer Goods Safety Regulation (Cap. 456A), verified 2026-10-25. ↩

7. Hong Kong Department of Justice, Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance (Cap. 231), verified 2026-10-25. ↩