[Conference Exclusive] Cosmetic Europe Suggest the Unification of Global Cosmetic Management

Takehome:

• During Sep. 19th -22nd 2017, the China Association of Fragrance Flavor and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI) held its annual conference in which important market and regulatory trends were discussed.
• Cosmetic Europe offered an overview of current global cosmetic regulatory trends and suggested unifying global cosmetic management to increase competitiveness of the cosmetic industry.

The director of technical and regulatory affairs of Cosmetic Europe, Gerald Renner gave a presentation on global cosmetic regulatory trends, in which he suggested unification of cosmetic management on a global level will benefit the development of the industry. The ultimate future for successful cosmetic companies is in the global market place rather than in confined national/regional markets.

He also concluded that the success criteria relies on:

• Safe products which can quickly enter the market; unsafe products don't reach the market, or in the rare cases that they do, are quickly detected and removed;
• Regulatory compliance and safe consumption track records create trust amongst consumers;
• Predictable regulatory environment: Economic Operators are aware of the rules and able to comply;
• Compatible with international practice, enabling companies to grow and expand to new markets;
• Equal requirements for domestic and imported products.

Current global cosmetic regulation trend

There are 2 basic systems for product management.

1. Pre-market approval – product registration – government shoulders the responsibility for safety and compliance
2. In-market control – product notification – industry is responsible for safety and compliance

A common thread in global cosmetic regulation is the broad categorization of cosmetics into "ordinary cosmetics" and "special cosmetics". Generally speaking it is advised that "ordinary cosmetics" are subject to in-market control, because systematic pre-market registration for these products is considered:

• Resource intensive, heavy approach for inherently low-risk products;
• Not very compatible with fast moving consumer goods.

"Special cosmetics" are not subject to the same overriding regulatory trend as countries tend to vary in their regulatory approach with some adopting pre-market approval and others in-market control. This situation tends to cause the compliance issues and erects unnecessary market entry barriers for international companies trading on the global stage.

Cosmetic ingredient management is another important issue. International markets are moving from "ensuring that only safe ingredients are used in cosmetics" to "ensure that ingredients are used in cosmetics safely". Regulatory frameworks tend to rely on a mix of positive and negative lists. In general the safe use of lower risk ingredients is the responsibility of enterprise, and high priority ingredients with inherent safety questions need to undergo regulatory review and approval before they can be used.