China concludes SK-II cosmetics safe, Japanese official says.

BEIJING, Oct. 24 Kyodo

China has declared that SK-II brand beauty products are safe, after concluding that trace amounts of two substances banned in China found in the items are unlikely to affect consumers' health, an official of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said Tuesday.

The embassy official, who contacted China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said the quality control authorities agree that small amounts of the substances can find their way into items through the production process.

''The conclusion was that the amount found will not affect people's health,'' the official said.

State-owned China Central Television also reported Tuesday the authorities concluded that proper use of products containing trace amounts of the substances is unlikely to affect people's health.

No announcements were made on the websites of the quality authorities or China's Health Ministry.

China's state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported in September that Chinese authorities had found that 12 SK-II products imported from Japan contained chromium and neodymium.

The report prompted consumers to flock to department stores to return the products.

In response, the Japanese unit of U.S. consumer products group Procter & Gamble Co. said that while it does not see any quality problems, it is temporarily stopping sales of the SK-II products in mainland China, citing ''confusion among consumers.''

The cosmetics products do not violate Japanese government standards, and authorities in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore had announced the products do not pose safety problems.