For some months now, in all forums and companies there has been talk of regulation, and not only of one or two changes, but we often refer to it as a "Regulatory Tsunami" (I don't know who invented the term, but the first person I heard it from was Germán Castillo).
And for each of us, this concept provokes different feelings: annoyance, anger, excitement, concern.... The only way not to react would be to stay on the sidelines.
Because these are changes that not only affect what we traditionally understand as Regulatory, but will impact all areas of the company, the entire life cycle of the product, from its conception in R&D or marketing to its birth, its commercial life and even its destruction.
These changes affect labelling, the ingredients we can use, the materials of primary packaging, the shape of secondary packaging, purchasing, traceability....
I am referring in particular to the new packaging regulations, the forthcoming directive on sustainability claims, and everything that falls under the EU Green Pact, as well as the new allergen labelling regulation and the new concerns about endocrine disrupting effects on humans and the environment that the REACH and CLP regulations bring us.
So, it is normal to react angrily. But if we manage to analyse it dispassionately, if we put our emotional side aside for a moment, we will see that this tsunami is actually good news. And I am going to develop the idea a little...
While it is true that there is a lot of work ahead of us, we are at a time when handling and managing large volumes of information is the order of the day. New tools exist and are being developed that will allow us to manage all these processes. And not only technical means, but also human ones. Skills in project management, uncertainty management or risk management are becoming more and more common and we feel more confident in unstable environments.
So we are being presented with an enormous challenge, difficult but not unassumable. It would have been unassumable 20 years ago, but not today. Of course, if we continue to work in our organisation as we did 20 years ago (i.e. as we did in 2003, ahem), with the same tools and processes, we are going to have a hard time. Therefore, this new scenario of massive change forces us to rethink our work dynamics and to use practical and optimised approaches. It will be more than ever to renew or die.
The second reason why I think this is good news is that it will surely help accelerate the digital transformation of many companies, especially the smaller ones, which until now have been struggling. To be able to manage the supply chains of packaging, its traceability, to be able to track formulas, ingredients, labelling, it will be necessary to implement management tools such as electronic signatures, ERP systems, document managers, etc. that allow a single person or a small group to handle large volumes of data.
And if these measures are not adopted, it will be necessary to hire more staff in the Regulatory area, which is not bad news for professionals like me either, hehe!
Well, joking aside, the fact that the sector is showing an image committed to the safety not only of consumers but also of the environment is very positive. We always have to deal with this image of a frivolous and dispensable sector that makes us an easy sacrifice. But we know that we are not, that cosmetic products are an integral part of daily care and health maintenance. So we will be there for any challenge that comes our way.
And we in the cosmetics industry have already shown that we are capable of dealing with big things. Things that seemed impossible. Regulation 1223 seemed impossible to comply with when it was published in 2009; it spoke of completely eliminating animal testing, when the state of the art did not allow us to be so optimistic; it spoke of carrying out a toxicological evaluation of products, when there were no toxicologists who knew about cosmetics; it also spoke of implementing a cosmetic monitoring system... And here we are, with everything in place, adapting the possibilities of each company to the requirements and ensuring the safety of consumers.
And now, we move to the next level of consumer safety and open up to environmental safety. So far the environment has helped some to sell, but now it's time to really care about the impact of our products.
So we will do it again, I have no doubt.