L’Oréal Groupe CEO Nicolas Hieronimus and Beiersdorf CEO Vincent Warnery are among the top business leaders to warn over the regulatory burden being placed on the beauty industry in Europe.
The Value of Beauty Alliance – a group of top executives from 17 beauty and personal care companies – has called on EU policymakers to take action, or risk a weakening of one of the region’s most competitive and globally influential industries.
“We applaud [European Commission] President von der Leyen’s call to cut red tape and end gold plating across Europe,” said Hieronimus.
“These words must now turn into action.
“The beauty industry is already a global leader when it comes to sustainable innovation, yet we are currently being forced to spend up to 70% of our research and development (R&D) budgets on reformulation and compliance.
“Every euro lost to regulatory complexity is a euro Europe can not afford to waste.
“The time has come for Europe to stop being the world’s chief regulator and start becoming its chief innovator.”
The warning came after the Value of Beauty CEO forum, which took place on 17 March in Brussels, Belgium, at what it described as a “pivotal moment” for industrial policy and trade in the EU.
Leaders met to discuss the future of the beauty industry, which contributes €180bn to EU GDP and €30bn in exports, as well as supporting 3.2 million skilled jobs.
The group urged policymakers to “deliver coherent and fair framework conditions, built on regulatory predictability, proportionate and evidence-based implementation of rules, fair cost allocation, open trade, and stronger support for innovation”, said the alliance in a statement.
Competition from other regions, rising energy costs, increasing regulatory complexity and “a widening misalignment between policy ambition and innovation cycles” are among the issues which threaten Europe’s position as a beauty industry leader, the group said.
“We need to move from promises to action,” said Beiersdorf’s Warnery.
“Everything is on the table to unlock our industry’s potential.
“Safety is non-negotiable – but without clear, predictable regulation, responsible investment becomes a shot in the dark.
“Brussels must restore the predictability required to safeguard our global leadership.”
The group highlighted the implementation of two new directives affecting the industry – the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
For UWWTD, the group urged policymakers to ensure an evidence-based and proportional application of the “polluter pays principle”, with responsibility fairly shared across sectors.
The group has previously argued that the costs of the legislation, which is designed to protect the environment from harmful wastewater discharge, disproportionately fall on the cosmetics industry.
Meanwhile, PPWR should reflect “the specific safety, hygiene and design requirements of cosmetic and personal care products”, the group said.
Although the industry’s support for sustainability is “unequivocal”, the group called for a “more pragmatic and up-to-date framework, so that companies can focus on delivering sustainability and innovation, rather than diverting those resources to navigating overly complex and unworkable rules”, read the statement.
In addition to L’Oréal and Beiersdorf, members of The Value of Beauty Alliance include Puig, and fragrance houses Givaudan, DSM-Firmenich and IFF, as well as suppliers Verescence and Albéa.