What’s important for the future of the European cosmetics industry?
On 19 and 20 June in Brussels, Belgium, cosmetic and personal care industry leaders from all over the world will come together to share insights on global trends and the latest industry developments for the CEAC annual conference of European trade body Cosmetics Europe.
This year’s theme is Visions & Reflections, and a host of industry experts, policy makers, beauty and personal care companies and other stakeholders will gather to discuss topics such as: Cosmetics regulation: current challenges and future developments; Sustainability and environmental safety; Global business trends; International developments; Communication, advocacy and more.
The conference itself is already fully booked for 2024, but Cosmetics Design-Europe will be reporting live from the event on 19 and 20 June for those who have missed out on a ticket.
An “intense” time for European industry
According to Cosmetics Europe’s director-general John Chave, this year’s conference will focus on a mixture of regulations and newsworthy topics – particularly in light of the new elections for the European Parliament and the forthcoming new European Commission. As Chave stated, European industry is seeing “the most intense activity anyone can remember in the EU.”
This year’s grand opening session will include video inclusions from leaders at the world’s biggest beauty brands. These include: L’Oréal Group’s CEO Nicolas Hieronimus; executive chairman at The Estée Lauder Companies William Lauder; CEO at Kenvue Thibaut Mongon; and Unilever’s business group president for personal care Fabian Garcia.
Chave will also be joined by a host of industry leaders from across Europe and beyond, such as: Cosmetics Europe’s VP Birgit Huber; The European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients secretary-general Andrea Matagliati; director-general at NATRUE Mark Smith; president and the Personal Care Products Council CEO Thomas Myers; executive director at the European Chemicals Agency Dr Sharon McGuiness; chairwoman at the China Association of Fragrance Flavour and Cosmetic Industries Jiangying Yan; and director-general at European Chemical Industry Council Marco Mensink.
“We've come to the end of this frankly frenetic period – for all sorts of reasons, not just for the cosmetics industry – but generally within European Union,” Chave explained.
“That's a nice time to begin the conference with a very broad-based conversation, looking at a range of topics that are relevant for our industry going forward in the future.”
Shedding light on the future of the cosmetics industry
Chave shared that the speakers and panellists were chosen as they “will really be able to cast light on some of the challenges and opportunities that we face longer term”.
He also said that he hoped this year’s opening session would “give a lot of food for thought about where our industry is going in the future.”
The future of the cosmetics products’ regulation and the issue of “weaponising hazard” is high up the agenda for this year too, according to Chave, along with sustainability, and the conference will include two sessions on environmental challenges and nature commitments.
“We'll also be looking at the current state of labour market in Europe and current trends within the market, which is always of interest to our members,” he continued. “But also, this time, we wanted to really diversify and go into topics which were not necessarily regulatory.”
As a result, this year’s conference will also feature sessions on artificial intelligence and diversity, equity and inclusion.
“When we planned the conference, we looked at topics from a regulatory or business perspective, but also topics that are in the news and not directly related to cosmetics, but are of interest to our industry,” explained Chave.
He also highlighted the international reach of this year’s event and shared that there will be sessions that take a focus beyond Europe: namely on China and Sub-Saharan Africa, which were chosen due to feedback from Cosmetics Europe’s members.
“There was a lot of conversation about its potential to be a major growth area for the future of the industry,” Chave concluded, as the industry looks towards the future and new potential opportunities.
Find out more about the conference here and look out for Cosmetics Design-Europe's live reports from the event on 19 and 20 June 2024.
