British Beauty Council spotted an interesting story in The Guardian last week which could be seen as a shot across the bows for companies importing into the US, and highlights the importance of full supply chain diligence when importing goods from overseas, particularly from regions like North Korea: Californian cosmetics company e.l.f Cosmetics were recently fined $1m for breaching sanctions by importing fake lashes containing materials that originated in North Korea.
The company’s compliance programme and supplier audits failed to identify that some of the lash kits supplied by their China-based suppliers contained the materials in question.
An initial penalty of $40m was reduced due to the small amount of material involved, and that e.l.f Cosmetics reported its oversight.
