Korea, 2020–2022: Blogger-Commissioned and Brand-Published SPF Results

What the round was

• Published by Independent and brand-commissioned laboratories, South Korea
• Date 3 December 2020 to 3 October 2022
• Publishes a measured SPF per product yes
• Original publication The Korean sunscreen SPF disclosures, 2020-2022

Method, as Independent and brand-commissioned laboratories states it. No single method: the round gathers results from different laboratories commissioned by different parties. The Purito figures come from ISO 24444 in vivo testing on 10 subjects at Ita-Test in Poland, alongside an in vitro determination and a five-subject screening at an unnamed German laboratory. The Dear, Klairs ranges are the brand's own, described by the brand as "based on a range of test values following various criteria, including the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Notice Act, ISO24444:2010 and ISO24444:2019 standards." The KraveBeauty figures come from two studies at Princeton Consumer Research Corp, one to the FDA Static Test Method and one to ISO 24444:2019, each with 10 subjects, published by the brand as a 64-page report.

What the body itself said about the limits

Republishing a number without the hedge that travelled with it changes what the number means. These are the qualifications the bodies published alongside the results.

…we started with an in-vitro test in the Polish lab Ita-Test. It came back as SPF 15.8 with standard deviation of 2.3, with UVA-PF 9.1 ± 1.

INCIdecoder, describing a test it commissioned and paid for itself — not a consumer-testing body — source

We take full responsibility for the lack of action on our end to verify the SPF of our products before launching.

Dear, Klairs, publishing its own clinical results including two failures and one product that met its claim — source

the original result was SPF 55.3 but extensive testing since then has shown that the formula performed below our standards.

KraveBeauty, which declined to publish the failing figures, citing "legal and privacy constraints" — source

The products with a published figure

Read the “published by” column on each page carefully, because it does the work here. One of these figures came from a laboratory an independent blog paid for; the rest came from brands publishing results about their own products. None came from a consumer-testing organisation, and none came from a regulator.

One further product belongs to this round and has no page, because no number was ever published for it:

• KraveBeauty Beet The Sun (original formula), label SPF 50+ / 55 — no number published. The brand confirmed the formula "performed below our standards" and declined to publish the failing figures, citing legal and privacy constraints. Discontinued, with refunds for purchases between 18 May 2020 and 2 February 2021. The brand's statement.

Further products were named in press reports that we could not verify at the source and are not listed.

What the regulator did, and what it did not do

No penalty against any brand in this round has been published. The one regulatory document linked above is not a rule at all yet: 공고 제2026-409호 is an advance notice (입법/행정예고), registered on 18 August 2026, in which Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety set out a proposed partial amendment to its Regulation on the Review of Functional Cosmetics and invited comment until 18 September 2026. What it proposes is evidentiary: that in vitro test data produced by internationally standardised methods be accepted, alongside in vivo testing, as supporting data for an SPF and PA review, together with an adjustment to when efficacy data may be waived. It says nothing about labelling or advertising, and nothing in it is in force.

Nothing on any page here describes that proposal as enacted, and no page states a penalty against any brand in this round.

Primary documents

• INCIdecoder, "The Purito controversy" — the commissioned lab report
• Dear, Klairs official statement, with the brand's own results table
• KraveBeauty, Beet The Sun statement
• KraveBeauty, Beet The Sun Testing Results — the 64-page PCR Corp report, linked from the brand's own product page
• MFDS advance notice 공고 제2026-409호 — the proposed amendment to the Regulation on the Review of Functional Cosmetics, registered 18 August 2026, open for comment until 18 September 2026