[ Press Release, March 13, 2020 / unofficial translation ] “Customized Cosmetics” Launching on March 14 - Results of 1st customized cosmetics technical manager qualification exam announced...total of 8,800 people participated - □ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Lee Eui-Kyung) has announced that a system for “customized cosmetics sales business” will be implemented starting from March 14. ○ In advance of the implementation of this system, a qualification exam for customized cosmetics technical managers was held this February 22, and the results of this exam were announced today. - Those who took the exam can check whether they passed by visiting the exam’s website (ccmm.kpc.or.kr). - The first exam was held at 28 locations around the country. A total of 8,837 people took the exam, and 2,928 of them passed (33% of pass rate) - The age range of those who took the exam was wide, from teenagers to people in their 70s. The top age group was participants in their 40s (29%), followed by those in their 30s (25%), then those in their 20s (18%). Dividing the participants by region, the region from which both the highest number of overall test-takers and the highest number of passing test-takers came from was Seoul, followed by Gyeonggi Province, then Daejeon. - The participants’ occupations varied, including self-employed individuals, company employees, and students. The top occupation amongst those who passed was company employees (46%), followed by self-employed individuals (28%). ○ Around the time the exam was held, COVID-19 was rapidly spreading in Daegu area. Therefore, for the safety of the test-takers, we consulted with local government in Daegu and finally canceled holding the exam within Daegu area. - Accordingly, we plan to hold the exam again at a time when the spread of COVID-19 is contained and situation is stabilized. Once the exam schedule is finalized, we will post it on the MFDS website (www.mfds.go.kr) and the exam’s website (ccmm.kpc.or.kr). □ The customized cosmetics technical managers who passed this exam can take on jobs at customized cosmetics shops where they reflect an individuals’ skin conditions, preferences, etc. and mix ingredients such as colorings or fragrances into the contents of a cosmetic, or dispense cosmetics and put them together, according to each individual’s diagnosis results. ○ This customized cosmetics technical manager qualification exam is the first national qualification exam implemented by the MFDS. It is predicted that, if the market for customized cosmetics expands, the demand for technical managers will increase further. □ The MFDS hopes that customized cosmetics will reach beyond Korea to lead the change of global cosmetics market and take an opportunity to introduce K-Beauty to the world. To this end, the Ministry announced its intention to work together with the cosmetics industry and thereby do its best to accomplish the distribution of safe, high-quality cosmetics.