HSA seeks feedback on proposed regulation of complementary health products under Health Products Act 2007
30 July 2026
On 1 July 2026, the Health Sciences Authority (“HSA”) launched a public consultation seeking feedback on the proposed regulatory framework for complementary health products (“CHPs”) under the Health Products Act 2007 (“HPA”). The consultation closed on 29 July 2026.
Current controls of CHP
CHPs are self-care health products containing ingredients with a long history of safe use intended for supporting or enhancing general health or alleviating symptoms of minor conditions that consumers can manage themselves. CHPs include health supplements, traditional medicines (which exclude traditional Chinese medicines), homeopathic medicines, medicated oils, balms, and plasters, and topical antiseptics.
Given their inherently lower risk safety profile and health claims, CHPs are currently regulated with a light touch approach under the Medicines Act 1975 (“MA”). They are not subject to pre-market product evaluation and licensing of manufacturers, importers, and suppliers, although HSA imposes relevant safety and quality requirements on CHPs, including prohibiting the addition of medicinal ingredients such as steroids, and setting strict limits on toxic heavy metals. Post-market surveillance to monitor the safety and quality of marketed CHPs includes sampling and testing, and monitoring of adverse events reported by healthcare professionals.
Proposed CHP regulatory framework under HPA
The HPA was introduced in 2007 to consolidate the regulatory controls of various categories of health products under a single Act. The regulatory controls for various subsets of health products under the MA, including CHPs, are being moved to the HPA in phases. HSA intends to port over the regulatory controls for the remaining medicinal products that fall under the scope of CHP from the MA to the HPA by the end of 2028.
HSA proposes to strengthen the requirements relating to product safety, quality, and labelling, as well as duties and obligations to be imposed on manufacturers, importers, and suppliers, while maintaining the regulatory approach of light-touch pre-market regulatory controls. HSA also proposes to require a person who is instrumental in placing a CHP in the market locally to notify HSA of key information relating to the product, to facilitate post-market surveillance by HSA, and to enable timely regulatory actions where safety issues are detected.
HSA is seeking feedback on areas including product notification requirements, product safety and quality requirements, labelling requirements, record keeping and safety reporting requirements, advertisement controls, and the implementation timeline.
The full implementation for all requirements is targeted for the third quarter of 2030.
Reference materials
The following materials are available on the HSA website www.hsa.gov.sg: