Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current UK customs arrangements tackling the importation of illegal botox substitutes.

The Department of Health and Social Care is responsible for policy on the importation of Botox and Botox substitutes.

In February 2022, the department published plans to crackdown on unregulated cosmetic procedures and introduce a licence for non-surgical cosmetic procedures such as Botox and fillers, the scope and details are yet to be determined.

Border Force does not currently carry out any specific customs controls on the importation of Botox and its substitutes as there are no specific controls that we are aware of on this substance.

Once any policy is passed into legislation Her Majesty’s government would look at the merits of implementing import controls on any such products.