Retinol is one of four ingredients in the wrinkle section of Korea's official functional cosmetics codex, published by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). That listing is what lets a Korean retinol cream be reviewed as a functional cosmetic for wrinkles. The MFDS codex sets a quality floor rather than a dose: the retinol raw material must contain at least 90.0% of the retinol content stated on it, and each finished retinol product must contain at least 90.0% of its labelled amount.
This page draws on two Korean legal texts only. The first is the MFDS notice "Standards and Test Methods for Functional Cosmetics" (기능성화장품 기준 및 시험방법), Notice No. 2025-89 as amended on 16 December 2025, which names itself the Korean Functional Cosmetics Codex (KFCC). The second is Article 2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act, the closed list of functional claim types. Both were read in Korean from the notice's annex files; check date 12 October 2026. Korean statutes and notices are not copyright-protected (Copyright Act, Article 7), so they are quoted directly. No product is named, priced or ranked.
Where is retinol in the Korean codex?
In Annex 3, 피부의 주름개선에 도움을 주는 기능성화장품 각조, "monographs for functional cosmetics that help improve skin wrinkles". Annex 3 has raw monographs for four substances: retinol, retinyl palmitate, adenosine and polyethoxylated retinamide. Three of the four are retinoids, so this page covers all three retinoids together, with retinol first.
Before reading the numbers, it helps to know what kind of document this is. Rule 1 of the codex's general annex says it sets the range within which a company seeking functional cosmetic review may skip submitting its own standards and test methods. The monographs are prewritten quality tests. They are not a list of every ingredient that may be used, and they do not set use levels.
What does the retinol monograph actually say?
The retinol monograph is unusual. Most monographs describe one pure chemical. The retinol monograph accepts a family of raw materials and ties its purity rule to the label of the raw material itself.
The figures that follow are as printed in the MFDS Korean Functional Cosmetics Codex (KFCC, MFDS Notice No. 2025-89).
| Item in the monograph | What the codex states |
|---|---|
| Formula and weight | C20H30O, 286.46 |
| Other names in the codex | Vitamin A oil, cod liver oil |
| What the raw material may be | Retinol itself, retinol dissolved in oils, or retinol stabilised in polymers such as polysaccharides or proteins, with diluents, stabilisers or thickeners added |
| Assay (raw ingredient) | 90.0% or more of the labelled retinol content (IU or %) |
| Description | Pale yellow to pale orange powder, viscous liquid or gel; odourless or with a characteristic odour |
| Identification | In chloroform with antimony trichloride the liquid turns blue at once, and the colour fades quickly |
| Purity tests | Related substances, acid, and no rancid odour when warmed |
| Assay method | Liquid chromatography, detection at 325 nm |
That "labelled content" wording matters. A supplier may sell retinol dissolved in oil or wrapped in a polymer, and the raw material carries a stated retinol content in IU or as a percentage. The MFDS codex requires that the assay finds at least 90.0% of that stated content. It does not tell you what the stated content has to be.
The assay itself is written out in detail. For ordinary retinol the test solution is prepared to about 25,000 IU; for retinol captured in water-soluble material the method weighs out about 2,500 IU and uses water, ultrasound at 35 °C for 30 minutes and methanol to free it before measuring.
Which finished retinol products have monographs?
Annex 3 has four retinol dosage-form monographs: lotion, cream, soaked mask and solid. There is no retinol solution monograph, unlike adenosine, which has one.
In the MFDS codex, each of the four says the product, when assayed, contains retinol equal to 90.0% or more of the labelled amount, and each describes the product as made with retinol as its main (functional) ingredient, with stabilisers, humectants, emulsifiers, moisturisers, pH adjusters, colourants and fragrance allowed. The pH line is the same in substance across them: the product's own standard value plus or minus 1.0, inside an overall range of 3.0 to 9.0. For the soaked mask the test runs on the liquid pressed from the sheet; for the solid, products that contain no water are excluded from the pH test.
How do the three Korean retinoids compare?
As printed in the MFDS codex:
| Item | Retinol | Retinyl palmitate | Polyethoxylated retinamide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formula / weight | C20H30O, 286.46 | C36H60O2, 524.87 | Average molecular weight 831 |
| Assay | 90.0% or more of labelled content (IU or %) | 90.0% or more of labelled content (IU or %) | 95.0% or more |
| Description | Pale yellow to pale orange powder, liquid or gel | Pale yellow to yellowish-red solid or oily substance; partly crystallises when kept cool | Yellow to yellow-brown, clear or slightly cloudy emulsion |
| Selected limits | No rancid odour on warming | Acid value 2.0 or less; peroxide value 16 meq/kg or less | Melting point 6-10 °C; pH 4.6-6.6; heavy metals 10 ppm; arsenic 2 ppm |
| Dosage-form monographs | Lotion, cream, soaked mask, solid | Lotion, cream, soaked mask, solid | None in Annex 3 |
Retinyl palmitate follows the same pattern as retinol: a family of raw materials, judged against their own labelled content, with the same four dosage forms. Polyethoxylated retinamide is different. In the MFDS codex it has a fixed purity of 95.0% or more and a set of physical limits, and Annex 3 gives it no dosage-form monographs at all.
Does retinol appear in combination products?
Once. Annex 5, which covers products for both whitening and wrinkle improvement, has an arbutin and retinol cream monograph. The MFDS codex requires at least 90.0% of the labelled amount of both arbutin and retinol. Every other combination in Annex 5 uses adenosine for the wrinkle side.
Which claim does the listing allow?
The wrinkle claim type is item 3 of Article 2 of the Enforcement Rule:
피부에 탄력을 주어 피부의 주름을 완화 또는 개선하는 기능을 가진 화장품
In English: a cosmetic that gives the skin elasticity and so eases or improves wrinkles. The annex title uses the softer "helps improve" (주름개선에 도움을 주는).
That is the full legal ceiling. Words such as "reverses ageing", "regenerates" or "repairs" belong to medicines, and a cosmetic in Korea cannot use them. The codex monograph says nothing about effect at all: it is a test of identity and purity.
Retinol label checklist
MFDS codex values:
- Look for the functional cosmetic marking with a wrinkle type
- Expect the form to be a lotion, cream, soaked mask or solid if it follows a single-ingredient retinol monograph
- Read "90.0%" as a check against the labelled amount, not as a strength
- A brightening-plus-wrinkle retinol product matches the arbutin and retinol cream monograph
- Treat "eases or improves wrinkles" as the legal maximum of the claim
Checking a retinol claim in five steps
- Note the functional type on the pack.
- Confirm retinol, retinyl palmitate or polyethoxylated retinamide is the named functional ingredient.
- Open MFDS Notice 2025-89 and read Annex 3.
- For a dual claim, look for the arbutin and retinol cream in Annex 5.
- Compare the label wording with Article 2, item 3 of the Enforcement Rule.
How much retinol a product may contain. Use limits are in other MFDS rules that this page has not read; the codex gives none.
The other codex ingredients, grouped by functional type, are listed in our K-beauty functional ingredient index.
Sources and how to check
- 기능성화장품 기준 및 시험방법 (Standards and Test Methods for Functional Cosmetics, KFCC), MFDS Notice No. 2025-89, amended 16 December 2025: Annex 1 (general rules), Annex 3 (wrinkle monographs), Annex 5 (combinations). Korean Law Information Center: https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/admRulInfoP.do?admRulSeq=2100000269816&chrClsCd=010201
- 화장품법 시행규칙 제2조 (Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act, Article 2), item 3 quoted above: https://www.law.go.kr/법령/화장품법%20시행규칙/제2조
- Checked as of 12 October 2026, against the annex files of the notice. Licence: unprotected works under Copyright Act Article 7.
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Calculate Now →Questions readers ask about Retinol in Korean Skincare
Is retinol an approved wrinkle ingredient in Korea?
It has a monograph in Annex 3 of the MFDS functional cosmetics codex (Notice No. 2025-89), the wrinkle section, with retinyl palmitate, adenosine and polyethoxylated retinamide.
What does the 90.0% figure for retinol mean?
The raw material must assay at 90.0% or more of its own labelled retinol content (IU or %), and finished products at 90.0% or more of their labelled amount. It is not a strength.
Which retinol product forms have Korean monographs?
Lotion, cream, soaked mask and solid. Annex 3 has no retinol solution monograph.
How much retinol can a Korean cosmetic contain?
The codex does not say. Use levels are in other MFDS rules that this page has not covered.
What claim can a Korean retinol product make?
Enforcement Rule Article 2 item 3: giving the skin elasticity and so easing or improving wrinkles. Regenerate or repair wording is outside cosmetic law.