Despite travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the 15th annual meeting of the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR) was held this week bringing together cosmetic regulators from the now seven full member jurisdictions – Brazil, Canada, Chinese Taipei, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. They were joined this year by a record number of some 10 “observer” jurisdiction including Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Together, they represent a significant portion if not the majority of the world’s retail cosmetics market.
ICCR was founded some 15 years ago by its original four members – Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the United States – for the purpose of coordinating the regulation of cosmetics to both enhance consumer safety and align regulations to facilitate trade. Industry, through our trade associations in the ICCR jurisdictions, participate with regulators in joint working groups throughout the year (JWG) to discuss specific issues of mutual concern and make recommendations that can be endorsed and published by the group of ICCR regulators. These papers – such as allowable levels for impurities of certain substances such as lead (i.e. 10 ppm) – often then become a standard used or referenced by other regulators and industry around the globe. At this years meeting, topics for discussion included improving consumer communications, integrated strategies for safety assessments, and microbiome. Proposed new topics for work during the coming year include botanicals, products for use with refillable packaging, and natural/organic ingredients.
In addition to meeting with industry stakeholders, ICCR regulators also hold an open forum with any interested stakeholder. This year presentations were made by the US Environmental Working Group (EWG), and Burt’s Bees who raised the issue of ICCR endorsing the ISO standard for labelling “natural” and “organic” products.
Over the past few years, the ICCR meeting has been expanded to include an industry symposium led by the hosting jurisdiction. The symposium takes advantage of ICCR-regulators (both full ICCR members and observers) being in the same place at the same time. This provides a unique opportunity for industry to advance or profile a topic or development that could spearhead ‘big picture’ policy dialogue on matters that might not necessarily fit within the technical realm of the ICCR deliberations, but nonetheless are critical to facilitate/support international trade and/or regulatory convergence. Members may recall that in 2019, when ICCR was last hosted in Canada, CA and Health Canada took this opportunity to profile internationally the important regulatory modernization work that we were undertaking in Canada around the Self-Care Framework. This generated significant interest and discussion around the principles behind the Self-Care reforms, which regulators around the world are now looking to see come to the fore, as they contemplate future reforms with their own regulatory frameworks.
This year, the U.S. Personal Care Products Council will be hosting a virtual industry symposium entitled “The Challenge with Communicating Risk” which is sure to be both information and engaging. The topic of ‘risk communication’ is clearly top of mind these days and a very important big picture, collaborative, dialogue that is needed, perhaps more than ever; given the evolution of the digital marketplace and more importantly how information is accessed and used by stakeholders in today’s fast-paced world. (The Symposium is being held on Thursday, June 24th, following publication of this newsletter.)
Importantly, ICCR remains a critical platform for enhancing international regulatory alignment and standards for our industry – a key objective in facilitating international trade and manufacturing efficiency.
