Monthly Blog March

March has been a month full of days - literally - but also there have been so many special days this month, including International Women’s Day, World Book Day, World Sleep Day, International Day of Happiness, Global Recycling Day, International Colour Day, Earth Hour, World Oral Health Day, International Fragrance day…..The list goes on! Culminating at the end of the month with Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday here in the UK, as well as the annual move to British Summer Time. Many of these special days are important for the beauty industry, both to celebrate friends, family and colleagues or take collective action for the common good, but also as an opportunity for beauty gifting.

A significant anniversary on 11th March was the anniversary of the ban on animal testing of cosmetics. It is not legally permitted to test cosmetics on animals in Europe since 2013 (in fact in the UK from 1998) and therefore it is not a requirement to claim this on pack or in any marketing as a point of differentiation. Progress on finding suitable non-animal based alternative tests has continued through the years and certain tests have now been validated. However in some areas of the world regulatory requirements remain which still mandate animal tests. Unilever has been instrumental in its industry leadership on new approach methodologies (NAMs) and supporting research into alternatives, as a founder member of the International Collaboration on Cosmetics Safety www.iccs-cosmetics.org. The ICCS is ‘focused on advancing the adoption of animal-free science for human and environmental safety assessments of cosmetics and their ingredients through science, education and training and regulatory engagement’. CCUK welcomes this initiative.

We have been proud to present two webinars about the UK market this month as part of the Global Cosmetics Cluster (GCC) Access to Global Markets series and also to kick off the Beauty & The Bioeconomy Taskforce with BBIA. Many of our members and supporters have been visiting Cosmoprof in Bologna, where we were represented on the GCC pavilion by Barbaro Olioso of the Green Chemist. Preparations are now in full swing for this year’s in-cosmetics Global tradeshow in Amsterdam next month. Gill Westgate will be giving a presentation and our directors, Katerina Steventon, Alastair Gardner and Rachael Davison-White will be in attendance. 

Join our community of businesses involved with the whole supply chain in the beauty industry, from research to raw materials to retail. Membership is by company, but all employees can participate. Click here for more information or join.

This month we are welcoming new members Cogent Skills, Deep Blue Biotech and Peter East Ltd, all demonstrating the variety of businesses who can enrich our network and contribute to our success. Our renewing members this month are Annabelle Charles Associates, Personal Care Regulatory Ltd and Surfachem. We appreciate your continuing support!

Best wishes from the CCUK Team.