The conference is organised annually by the European trade association Cosmetics Europe, and gathers international cosmetics and personal care leaders.
This year, they met to consider the theme ‘More than meets the eye: the benefits of cosmetics and personal care’, with more than 300 experts, policy and decision makets and companies in attendance.
The conference considered the contribution of cosmetics to wellbeing, and to the European cosmetics, while also delving into the complexities of regulation.
John Chave, Director-General of Cosmetics Europe said, “With 500 million European citizens using cosmetic and personal care products every day, at this year’s Cosmetics Europe Week, we decided to look at the benefits that cosmetic and personal care products bring to our lives.
“We are very happy to organise the Cosmetics Europe Week for the fourth time and see it growing into the ‘place to be’ for the cosmetics community, a space to freely discuss, share and learn,” he said.
Two-part programme
This year, the conference fell across two distinct sections: Open Forum and Regulatory Day.
The Open Forum on 14 June, addressed issues such as consumer perceptions of cosmetics, current economic trends, and science in policy making, and concluded with an International Symposium on Doing Business in India.
Organisers describe the Regulatory Day (15 June) as the foremost cosmetics regulatory conference in Europe. It considered in-depth analysis and discussion of key current issues in cosmetics regulation.
Participants were able to choose from a number of breakout sessions led by regulatory experts on such topics as personalised products, acceptable maximum exposure to substances, ISO standards on natural/organic cosmetics, risk management of skin allergy, role of distributors in regulation and enforcement and regulatory consequences of Brexit.
Cosmetics Europe represents the interests of more than 4500 companies, ranging from major international cosmetics manufacturers to small, family-run businesses operating in niche markets. In 2015, direct and indirect employment in the European cosmetics industry was approximately 2 million people, the body states.