Since the passing of MoCRA in December 2022, new regulations in the beauty industry have been coming faster than many can keep up with. These new regulations affect more than just the regulatory department. It’s crucial for product developers, marketers, CEOs, and founders to stay on top of these changes as they’re coming because the regulatory environment is showing no signs of slowing down.
At the BeautyMatter FUTURE50 Summit, we sat down with Meredith Petillo, Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs at the Independent Beauty Association (IBA), to discuss some of the new regulations coming into effect soon on a state-by-state, national, and international level. The IBA is a nonprofit trade association for the beauty and personal care industry. It was at the table with the FDA during all the rule-making of MoCRA. The IBA is the voice of everyone who owns an independent beauty business, whether you’re a supplier or a brand.
“It’s a fantastic community and an invaluable resource,” BeautyMatter co-founder Kelly Kovack says of the organization.
One of the most important MoCRA deadlines is here—July 1, 2024, is the deadline to comply with the new FDA provisions for facility registration and cosmetic product listing requirements.
“I just want to reiterate that MoCRA is the law,” says Petillo. “In the statute, we have to register every facility—including international facilities—that is making cosmetic products for sale in the US. By July 1, all of those facility registrations and product listings need to be with the FDA for products that are currently on the market.”
June 29 was another key milestone because Petillo expects a proposal from the FDA regarding fragrance allergens. This can have many different ripple effects in places like Canada and California, so beauty brands will want to look closely at this proposal as soon as it becomes available. Additionally, in December of this year, the beauty industry can expect what is going to be the proposed rule for good manufacturing practices.
While everyone has been watching MoCRA, another regulatory law has come into effect—and most people don’t even realize it, Kovack notes. It's called the extended producer responsibility packaging laws, or EPR. They've been enacted in four states: California, Colorado, Oregon, Maine; and Maryland is taking the first steps in enacting EPR legislation as well. So, what are these new EPR regulations, and what does compliance look like?
“EPR is arguably a bigger deal [than MoCRA], and I don’t think it has the name recognition or the understanding,” says Kovack.
EPR is taking the onus of end-of-life packaging disposal from municipalities and the government to the producers of the packaging. This is not the packaging supplier or the company that made the packaging but the producer, which is defined by these laws. This is not happening at a federal level; it is happening at a state level, so those definitions can vary, and do.
“There is a list of probably eight to ten other states that have an EPR proposal currently within their legislature that they're looking at,” warns Petillo. “So this is here, and it is going to continue.”
Producers, which in many cases means the brands, will have to register with the producer responsibility organization (PRO), and the laws mandate the PRO be established. They are currently figuring out what this means. This is not specific to beauty; it spans across food, beverage, household, and more. “Everything that has plastic packaging,” says Petillo.
Many times, single use is mentioned in the laws. However, single use does not mean a dose unit package. A shampoo bottle has many use doses in it, but it is considered a single-use package under these laws.
The PROs are being established. Circular Action Alliance has been selected in at least two of the states to act as the PRO, which is mandated by law. Petillo highly recommends getting in touch with Circular Action Alliance quickly if you think your brand could be impacted by these EPR laws. The Circular Action Alliance (CAA) had a self-imposed registration deadline of July 1 for producers who believe the new laws will affect them. If you missed it, don’t worry; just contact CAA as soon as possible to show good faith efforts that you intend to comply with the upcoming regulations.
“We're in a data gathering phase,” says Petillo. “You need to understand what packages you have, the tonnage, and the composition. To go further, because these are state laws, how much of that packaging is being disposed of in that state?”
This is not something that the industry readily has at its fingertips. Because there are fees attached, the beauty industry really needs to pay attention to and work with subject matter experts on this because a lot of this is not in place yet.
“We don't know what the fees are,” says Petillo. “We don't know what the whole landscape looks like. We don't know what the tonnage is. We don't know how exactly the PROs need to be handling all of this. They're working on that now. But it's being established while other states are passing laws, and the language is not exactly the same. So it's very complicated, but very, very important and arguably impacting almost every company within the industry.”
Kelly Kovack noted the huge rallying call for state-by-state legislation from those who see it as an issue of sustainability. “MoCRA got passed, and it’s not enough for some people,” she says. Big beauty brands have the resources, but for small brands, this state-by-state legislation presents a potential operational and financial strain.
Compliance and regulation are foundational blocks of building a successful brand, argues Petillo. Adhering to regulations is not optional, regardless of how big or small your brand is. “It comes back to compliance,” she says. “We talk about transparency [as an industry]. It's a given that consumers want a legal, safe product. These things are fundamental. Skirting about it is not an option.”
Not only do these state-by-state changes have to be tracked and implemented for each brand, but brands also have to be involved. And the legislators and regulators who are implementing these schemes in the industry need to know what's really going on. Getting involved in trade associations like IBA is one way that brands can stay on top of some of these changes. IBA can also give you the help, resources, and recommendations for subject matter experts who can ensure compliance.
Trade associations are the industry's voice. IBA is currently tracking hundreds of bills that could potentially have a huge impact on the beauty industry. Becoming a member means you can actually have a say in what bills get passed or die on the hill, and it helps IBA protect innovation and the industry at large.
“We have market access to entrepreneurs that other industries don't offer,” says Petillo. The state legislatures are hearing from a lot of voices, and they're getting a lot of pressure, but if they're not hearing from the indie beauty community, our industry will see a lot of laws passed that aren’t in the best interest of the industry or its consumers.
“If then the United States becomes 50 unique regulatory schemes, that's going to be something that is not serving the consumer. It's not serving the industry, and it becomes an insurmountable challenge,” says Petillo.
Moving beyond the US market, a number of regulatory changes are happening on the international stage around sustainability, which affect everything from your ingredient suppliers all the way down the supply chain.
There have been some ingredient restrictions on retinol in the EU, which Petillo says is important to keep tabs on.
“I think there's sometimes a mix up of verbiage about prohibitions and bans versus restrictions,” she says. “There are certain ingredients that wind up with certain percentage levels for certain product categories. That is certainly one that's worth tracking, especially because a lot of state legislatures are looking at the EU.”
The EU has recently expanded its fragrance allergen disclosure list, so the labeling requirements are now in the 80s versus the original 26. It’s also important to note that Canada has now adopted those fragrance allergen labeling requirements as well. California has also included the EU list in its regulations.
“They're pointing to the EU list directly, rather than pulling this in themselves and assessing ingredient by ingredient, and now that's in our state law,” says Petillo.
Brands will be required to disclose—not label, but disclose—the EU allergens to the state of California under the existing safe cosmetics program there. As another nod to trade associations, the Fragrance Creators Association actually led the charge and pulled a few associations together (including IBA and the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC)) to talk to the department that was implementing this new law. It would have been this month that every brand would have had to disclose all of these fragrance allergens. But through its advocacy efforts, i now agreed to align with the EU timing, whether that's 2026 or 2028 for the different products.
“Things that are happening on an international scale are not so international anymore. They’re here in the US,” says Petillo.
The ripple effects and this reference by inclusion piece is something that's really important to keep an eye on, especially what's going on with the EU, as those ingredient restrictions or prohibitions go into effect.
The FTC is revising its Green Guides for the first time since 2012. The FTC's purview is over advertising. “Green” claims or any claim that a brand is making in the sustainability and environmental protection realm fall under the FTC's umbrella, and the FTC’s Green Guides are meant to provide guidance and information to help businesses make their decisions. The FTC received a tremendous amount of comments when it opened that up for public comment. We don’t yet have an estimate on when that will be finalized.
To stay current on the latest regulatory and sustainability legislation impacting beauty brands, contact the IBA. One membership applies to your entire team, so you don’t need to buy multiple memberships to stay updated.
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