Today, the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors Association (ICMAD) urged Congress to support a national safety standard for the cosmetic industry to preserve industry innovation and avoid burdening small cosmetic businesses.

In two letters to Capitol Hill leaders, ICMAD supported the Cosmetic Modernization Amendments of 2015 (HR 4075), which will foster continued Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight and ensure the cosmetic industry’s long record of prioritizing safety. The bill, sponsored by Representative Pete Sessions, will also prevent artificial barriers to entry to the marketplace or unnecessary burdens that will stifle the innovation and growth of small businesses.

At a recent Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, Curran Dandurand, president and CEO of Jack Black and an ICMAD member, testified  about the massive burden placed on small businesses forced to comply with a patchwork of state regulations, and urged Congress to implement a national safety standard. ICMAD President and CEO Pam Busiek wrote to HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) that modernizing cosmetic regulations is essential. She said a national safety standard is necessary to establish uniform, science-based guidelines that apply equally to all states. 

“While ICMAD supports modernization of the FDA laws governing cosmetics, the methods proposed by the Feinstein-Collins bill in achieving this objective are problematic for the small businesses ICMAD represents,” Busiek wrote. “Although the Feinstein-Collins bill is well-intentioned, it would ultimately do more harm than good in the name of promoting safety,” Ms. Busiek said.

Read ICMAD’s full letter to HELP Committee leaders here.

ICMAD also expressed concerns about a legislation discussion draft House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Representative Leonard Lance (R-NJ) released last month. In comments submitted to the Committee, ICMAD warned that the current discussion draft fails to establish a national safety standard, threatens to overburden small businesses and increases costs, which will negatively affect businesses and consumers.

“The safety of our cosmetics and personal care products is our top priority – without safe products those who manufacture and sell them would have no business. But this bill won’t establish regulations that enhance safety, instead it will burden small businesses by saddling them with heavy fees, and would do nothing to streamline contradictory state regulations,” Busiek said.

Read ICMAD’s full comments on the Pallone-Lance discussion draft here.

As an organization representing more than 700 small business entrepreneurs, ICMAD will continue to collaborate with sister organizations - the Personal Care Products Council and the Professional Beauty Association - and the FDA to modernize its laws and ensure that consumers get safe, high-quality, innovative products that help them look and feel their personal best. As ICMAD has done for the last 40 years, the organization will continue to support small businesses as the creators of innovation and jobs.