The Value of Beauty Alliance, a CEO-led consortium of major beauty and personal care players across the EU value chain, is calling on the European Union and relevant policymakers to overhaul various frameworks it describes as fragmented, unpredictable, and increasingly complex.
“Without urgent action, Europe risks weakening one of its most competitive and globally influential industries,” the group said in a recent statement. “The Alliance CEOs call on EU leaders to act now to safeguard Europe's industrial champions—through coherent regulation, regulatory simplification, fair and proportionate implementation of rules, stronger trade alignment, and better framework conditions for innovation.”
According to The Value of Beauty Alliance, the European beauty and personal care value chain contributes €180 billion ($208.6 billion) to the EU Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and exports nearly €30 billion ($34.7 billion) annually, all while supporting 3.2 million skilled jobs. Maintaining a competitive edge, therefore, is crucial, it said.
“As the global markets evolve, other regions are moving fast with coordinated industrial strategies,” the Alliance CEO statement said. “At the same time, European companies face rising energy costs, increasing regulatory complexity, and a widening misalignment between policy ambition and innovation cycles.” This, in turn, threatens its global leadership, competitiveness, and influence, according to the statement.
Today, up to 70% of R&D budgets across beauty and personal care are now diverted to reformulation rather than breakthrough innovation, according to the Alliance. And leaders say that while high safety standards and consumer trust remain nonnegotiable, unpredictability and duplication are constraining investment in “next-generation products and breakthrough innovation.”
“Every euro lost to regulatory complexity is a euro Europe can't afford to waste,” said Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L'Oréal Groupe, as part of the consortium’s statement. “The time has come for Europe to stop being the world's chief regulator and start becoming its chief innovator.”
“Everything is on the table to unlock our industry's potential,” added Vincent Warnery, CEO of Beiersdorf, in the statement. “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.”
Marc-André Vernhet, Cosmetics Department Director at regulatory consultancy EcoMundo, told BeautyMatter that concerns raised by The Value of Beauty Alliance are “largely understandable.”
“Our industry operates in an environment where regulatory complexity is increasing faster than the capacity for innovation,” Vernhet explained.
The array of directly applicable regulations like the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation 1223/2009 and the Common Criteria Regulation 655/2013, combined with wider cross-industry regulations like the Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals (CLP) Regulation, creates “cumulative complexity,” he said.
Frequent changes and unclear timelines also create unpredictability for the industry. The expert said regulatory frameworks are also fragmented across Europe, with differences in implementation between member states and sometimes even sectors. Extended Producer Responsibility policies, for example, have been implemented in France, Spain, and Italy without European coordination.
All of this means companies must “constantly arbitrate between compliance and competitiveness,” Vernhet said.
Mojgan Moddaresi, an independent regulatory strategist for cosmetics, said regulatory complexity for beauty and personal care companies is certainly “substantial.”
The cosmetic, environmental, safety, and consumer protection frameworks applicable to industry “do not always align neatly,” Moddaresi explained, “creating interpretation gaps and duplicated compliance efforts.”
The Alliance CEOs highlight two specific regulations of concern: the EU's Revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) 2025/40.
The Revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, they said, risks placing a “disproportionate financial burden on the industry.” Enforced starting in January 2025, Article 9 of the Directive on Extended Producer Responsibility requires producers of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to collectively fund at least 80% of the costs of upgrading wastewater treatment plants and ensuring quaternary treatment throughout Europe. Some exemptions are in place, such as companies placing less than one tonne of product per year on the market, or companies using substances that are rapidly biodegradable in wastewater or that do not generate micropollutants in wastewater. The Alliance CEOs urged policymakers to make an “evidence-based and proportionate application” of this “polluter pays” principle, stressing that its application must be science-based and fair, with each sector bearing its “fair share of responsibility.”
The EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is another area that needs a more pragmatic and up-to-date framework that reflects the “specific safety, hygiene, and design requirements of cosmetic and personal care products,” the Alliance CEOs said. Entering into force in February 2025, with general application set for August 2026, the regulation introduces requirements across recyclability, recycled content, reusability, and minimization for all packaging and packaging waste. Concerns, however, have been raised around the regulation's complex criteria—much of which is still being outlined.
Moddaresi described the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation as “the most legitimate grievance in the current compliance landscape.”
“Companies are being asked to design compliant packaging against criteria that are still being technically elaborated by the European Commission and Member States,” she said. “I have the greatest sympathy with companies that are going through this part of compliance recently.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission told BeautyMatter the new packaging rules are designed to “help further tackle the environmental challenges caused by excessive packaging,” and will prove beneficial to consumers while creating opportunities for businesses thanks to cross-border EU alignment. The spokesperson pointed to a Guidance Document from the European Commission, published in March 2026, that facilitates the uniform application of the new packaging rules across the EU and simplifies compliance for economic actors.
For the Revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, the spokesperson said the Commission will step up its work to support national authorities and industry to implement the new rules “in the most efficient way,” speeding up the implementing act that will define risk areas.
The Value of Beauty Alliance said that while the European Commission has made promises to reduce red tape and gold-plating (excessive bureaucracy and an excess of norms, guidelines, and procedures) these promises now need to move to action.
“The beauty and personal care industry is a strategic European asset,” the Alliance said. “Safeguarding its global leadership requires regulatory coherence, proportionate implementation, open and convergent trade, and decisive action to strengthen Europe's competitiveness. The time to act is now.”
Vernhet agreed that without change, Europe's beauty leadership “is not guaranteed.”
“The challenge is not to deregulate, but to simplify, make the framework more predictable, and align regulation with innovation,” he said. “If this balance is achieved, Europe can remain the global benchmark in safety and a driver of innovation. Otherwise, there is a real risk that this advantage will gradually erode.”
Industry, he said, must “mobilize collectively,” working to strengthen dialogue with decision-makers by involving public officials more directly in cosmetic production sites to further raise their awareness of the regulatory overconstraints faced.
In the meantime, the regulatory expert said it is important for cosmetic companies to “anticipate rather than react,” investing in regulatory monitoring and integrating constraints early in innovation cycles. Industry must also “turn constraints into a lever,” he said, considering these European requirements as a competitive advantage internationally.
The Value of Beauty Alliance was established in 2024 and currently comprises 16 members*, including major brands, multinational suppliers, manufacturers, and industry associations. L'Oréal Groupe, Beiersdorf, IFF, Givaudan, Kiko Milano, and Ancorotti Cosmetics founded the consortium to raise awareness around the positive economic and societal impact of the beauty and personal care industry in Europe.
*The full list of The Value of Beauty Alliance members: Albéa, Ancorotti Cosmetics, Beiersdorf, Capua 1880, Cosmetic Valley, dsm-firmenich, Fiabila, Givaudan, IFF, The International Fragrance Association (IFRA), Kiko Milano, L'Oréal Groupe, Patyka, Puig, Verescence, and Ziaja.