'We must be able to respond globally': expert on beauty regulation

06-Jun-2018 - Last updated on 07-Jun-2018 at 15:24 GMT

Personal Care Products Council expert gives us predictions for what will become the key regulatory concerns for beauty in 2020 onwards.

Ahead of next week's Cosmetics Europe Annual conference, we caught up with Francine Lamoriello, EVP, Global Strategies for PCPC, who will be speaking at the event. This is the second part of the interview, the first can be found here.

The Cosmetics Europe Annual Conference, 13-14 June 2018, is a leading event in the European beauty industry calendar, and gathers expert speakers and industry professionals for a crucial knowledge-sharing opportunity.

Full details of the conference and how you can register can be found here.

Looking ahead, what do you predict will become the key regulatory concerns for beauty in 2020 onwards? Are these global or regional concerns?

The challenges I’ve discussed will likely be with us for many years to come. And, as information spreads around the globe in nanoseconds, an issue in one country or region quickly becomes a matter of global importance, and so we must be able to respond globally as well.

This requires our industry to work globally, to share information quickly; to combine resources in the most efficient way possible; and to coordinate so that consumers are well-informed no matter which country they live in.

In this way, we are also best placed to work with regulators, scientific experts, and companies on a global basis and assure the most current and useful information is brought into the debate.

The good news is that consumers are very engaged with our products and our brands. They are increasingly buying products online, and have a global marketplace from which to shop and a variety of products to choose from.

They want to learn as much as they can about the products that they love and use every day.

The internet and social media allow us unprecedented reach to these global consumers, and I am optimistic about the opportunities we have to engage with them on about the science and safety of our products.

Is global regulatory alignment possible, or desirable? If so, how can we work towards this?

Our industry is a truly global one, and as our consumers are global, it only follows that global regulatory alignment is the ultimate goal.

Of course, it’s true that regulatory systems are a result of political, historical and cultural factors, and it’s unlikely that regulations would ever be exactly alike.

But the goal of regulatory alignment is one we need to continually strive towards.

Regulatory alignment around principles of sound science promotes consumer protection, and allows consumers and regulators to have confidence in the products that are being put on their markets from other countries.

This helps governments to assign resources more efficiently.

Reducing barriers to trade

Regulatory alignment reduces barriers to trade that can lead to higher costs for industry and consumers. And regulatory alignment opens up opportunities for innovation and scale that can be very exciting.

When innovators and creators know they have the whole world as a potential market, amazing things can happen!

We are very much convinced of the importance of global regulatory alignment, and are always looking for new ways to promote this goal.

In recent years, there have been a number of new fora where regulatory alignment has been considered.

Specifically, the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR) is a forum where regulators and industry from the U.S., Europe, Canada, Japan, and Brazil have worked together for nearly 12 years to develop common understanding of scientific and regulatory issues facing our industry; with a goal of promoting regulatory alignment and minimizing barriers to international trade.

And Free Trade Agreements have proven to be very effective in highlighting good regulatory practices and promoting predictable and consistent regulations for our products.

Any other thoughts?

When we look at the potential for global regulatory alignment, we should also consider the opportunity this poses for countries that may not have fully developed regulatory systems in place for cosmetics, but where markets are growing and consumers are interested to have the same products that are on offer elsewhere around the world.

Countries in Sub Saharan Africa are an example. Global consensus around the best regulatory principles and approaches can be very helpful to regulators in those countries who are considering how to proceed.

Many countries participate as observers in the ICCR, and I think this is an indication of the great interest that regulators have in this area.

And so we want to make sure that the efforts around global regulatory alignment are as inclusive as possible, with participation from regulators and industry in as many countries as possible.