Niacinamide is one of eight ingredients that Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) lists in the skin-whitening section of its official functional cosmetics codex. That listing is the reason a Korean product built on niacinamide can carry the government's "functional cosmetic" label for brightening, and it also sets hard quality numbers: the raw ingredient must assay at 98.0% or more once dried, and a finished niacinamide product must contain at least 90.0% of the amount on its label.
This guide reads only two Korean legal texts. The first is the MFDS notice "Standards and Test Methods for Functional Cosmetics" (기능성화장품 기준 및 시험방법), which calls itself the Korean Functional Cosmetics Codex, or KFCC (MFDS Notice No. 2025-89, amended 16 December 2025). The second is Article 2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act, which lists the functional types a cosmetic can claim. Both were read in the original Korean on 9 October 2026. Korean statutes and government notices are not protected by copyright (Copyright Act, Article 7), so we quote them directly. We do not recommend or rank any product.
What does the Korean codex actually say about niacinamide?
The codex is a quality rulebook. Its first annex explains the purpose: it defines when a company applying for functional cosmetic review can skip submitting its own standards and test methods. In plain terms, if an ingredient has a monograph in the codex, the test methods are already written by the regulator.
Niacinamide has such a monograph in Annex 2, "Functional cosmetics that help whiten the skin" (피부의 미백에 도움을 주는 기능성화장품 각조). The monograph gives:
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 | C6H6N2O, 122.13 |
| Assay (raw ingredient) | 98.0% or more when dried |
| Description | White crystals or crystalline powder, odourless |
| Melting point | 128-131 °C |
| Heavy metals | 30 ppm or less |
| Loss on drying | 0.5% or less |
| Finished products | 90.0% or more of the labelled amount |
The same annex also has monographs for five finished dosage forms built on niacinamide: lotion, solution, cream, soaked (sheet) mask and solid. For the lotion, the codex sets the pH test at the product's own standard value plus or minus 1.0, within an overall range of 3.0 to 9.0, and allows stabilisers, humectants, emulsifiers, moisturisers, pH adjusters, colourants and fragrance to be added.
Does the 90% rule apply to sheet masks too?
Yes. In the MFDS codex, each of the five niacinamide dosage-form monographs opens with the same sentence: the product, when assayed, contains niacinamide equal to 90.0% or more of the labelled amount. That applies to the lotion, the solution, the cream, the solid and the soaked mask alike. The sheet mask monograph defines the product as a solution or lotion simply soaked into a support such as non-woven fabric, so the test is run on what is in the mask, not on the sheet. The lotion, solution and cream monographs all carry the same pH line (standard value plus or minus 1.0, within 3.0 to 9.0). What the MFDS codex does not say is how much niacinamide the label should state in the first place; that number is the manufacturer's, reviewed under other rules.
Which claim does that listing allow?
This is where most English-language articles go wrong. The functional types are a closed list in Article 2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act. The two whitening types read, in the original:
- Type 1: 피부에 멜라닌색소가 침착하는 것을 방지하여 기미ㆍ주근깨 등의 생성을 억제함으로써 피부의 미백에 도움을 주는 기능을 가진 화장품 — a cosmetic that *helps whiten the skin* by preventing melanin from depositing and so suppressing the formation of spots and freckles.
- Type 2: 피부에 침착된 멜라닌색소의 색을 엷게 하여 피부의 미백에 도움을 주는 기능을 가진 화장품 — a cosmetic that *helps whiten the skin* by lightening melanin that has already deposited.
Notice the verb. The law says "helps" (도움을 주는), not "removes", "cures" or "repairs". Korean regulators treat treatment language as drug language. So the accurate English summary of niacinamide's Korean status is: it is a codex-listed ingredient for functional cosmetics that help whiten (brighten) the skin. Anything stronger is outside the legal wording.
Is niacinamide also listed for wrinkles?
Not on its own. Annex 3, the wrinkle section, lists retinol, retinyl palmitate, adenosine and polyethoxylated retinamide. Niacinamide appears in wrinkle-related text only inside Annex 5, the section for products that help with both whitening and wrinkle improvement, where the codex has combination monographs such as a niacinamide and adenosine lotion. In those combinations adenosine is the wrinkle ingredient. If you read a claim that niacinamide by itself is an approved Korean anti-wrinkle ingredient, that is not what the codex says.
The other seven whitening ingredients in the same annex
For context, these are the eight raw-ingredient monographs in Annex 2, with the English names as the codex prints them (two obvious typos corrected):
| Korean name in the codex | English name |
|---|---|
| 나이아신아마이드 | Niacinamide |
| 닥나무추출물 | Broussonetia Extract |
| 아스코빌글루코사이드 | Ascorbyl Glucoside |
| 아스코빌테트라이소팔미테이트 | Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate |
| 알부틴 | Arbutin |
| 알파-비사보롤 | Alpha-Bisabolol |
| 에칠아스코빌에텔 | Ethyl Ascorbyl Ether |
| 유용성감초추출물 | Oil Soluble Licorice (Glycyrrhiza) Extract |
One caution about what this list is not. The codex annex is a list of ingredients with a written monograph. It is not a list of every ingredient that can ever appear in a Korean functional cosmetic, and it does not set the percentage a product must use. Usage amounts sit in different MFDS rules that we have not yet read in full, so this guide gives no "approved percentage" for niacinamide.
How to read a Korean functional cosmetic label
- Look for the functional cosmetic marking and the type it names (whitening, wrinkle, UV and so on)
- Check that the claimed type matches the ingredient's annex (niacinamide sits under whitening)
- Treat "helps" as the legal ceiling of the claim, not a weak translation
- Do not read the codex list as a percentage rule; it is a quality standard
- Ignore treatment words such as cure, heal or repair; they are outside cosmetic law
What this guide does not cover
- Whether niacinamide works for you. The codex is a quality standard. It contains no clinical results, and we do not add any.
- Use percentages and product rankings. Not in the sources above; we do not recommend products.
- Rules in other countries. The US, EU and others classify these ingredients differently. This page is about Korea only.
More ingredients from the same codex, grouped by functional type, are listed in our K-beauty functional ingredient index.
Sources and how to verify
- Source: 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 2 (whitening monographs), Annex 3 (wrinkle), Annex 5 (whitening and wrinkle 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: scope of functional cosmetics), quoted for types 1 and 2: https://www.law.go.kr/법령/화장품법 시행규칙/제2조
- Checked as of 9 October 2026 against the annex files of the notice. The table values above are copied from the niacinamide monograph; the English glosses of the Korean legal text are ours.
Editor's note
Checked: the niacinamide monograph values (assay, description, melting point, heavy metals, loss on drying), the five dosage-form monographs, the 90.0% labelled-amount rule, the eight Annex 2 ingredients and the wording of Enforcement Rule types 1 and 2.
Not checked: permitted use percentages, which sit in other MFDS rules, and any clinical effect.
Left out on purpose: product names, rankings, before-and-after claims and anything beyond the legal "helps whiten" wording.
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Calculate Now →Frequently Asked Questions
Is niacinamide an approved functional ingredient in Korea?
It has a monograph in Annex 2 of the MFDS functional cosmetics codex (MFDS Notice No. 2025-89), the section for cosmetics that help whiten the skin. That is the Korean basis for niacinamide brightening products.
What claim can a Korean niacinamide product make?
The legal wording is that it helps whiten the skin (피부의 미백에 도움을 주는), from Article 2 types 1-2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Cosmetics Act. Treatment words are outside cosmetic law.
What purity does the codex require for niacinamide?
98.0% or more when dried, assayed by the codex method. Finished niacinamide products must contain at least 90.0% of the labelled amount.
Is niacinamide a Korean anti-wrinkle ingredient?
Not on its own. The wrinkle annex lists retinol, retinyl palmitate, adenosine and polyethoxylated retinamide. Niacinamide appears with adenosine only in combination monographs in Annex 5.
What percentage of niacinamide does Korean law allow?
The codex does not set a usage percentage; it is a quality standard. Usage amounts are in other MFDS rules that this guide has not covered.