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Regulations Insight: Fragrance creation A bitter pill An analysis of the impact that the latest proposed European fragrance regulations will have on suppliers, brands and the end consumer by Alissa Demorest ne fragrance house executive describes the 0current state of European regulations as a “nightmare”. Suppliers are anxious, to say the least, about recent EU proposals that would increase the current list of 26 allergens to 91, which would come into effect as early as next year. While these ingredients will not be banned, they will be restricted and necessitate labeling if credit: istock dosed over a certain amount. “Regulations are constantly changing and we never know what’s best to label fragrance packs. Some are pushing which makes the creative process much more coming. It’s very frustrating, as they may provoke for a system such as a QR code directly on the challenging, and more costly. It also leads to the very opposite of what they set out to do,” secondary packaging, that consumers can scan less choice for the consumer. There is also a comments Fragrance Resources France general with their phones to obtain information on the lot of buzz and rumors around allergens and manager Alexandrine Demachy. “When there ingredients or to be redirected to a website. This potential bans, and brands are not necessarily were a lot of raw materials, we used a lot of raw would avoid a long list of ingredients that could well informed. materials, so the proportion in each fragrance prove daunting or threatening to the shopper. Marc Blaison, executive vice president of was smaller and exposure was therefore weaker. Cosmo International Fragrances, believes that By constantly limiting the number of ingredients, the key to integrating regulations is for suppliers perfumers have a more restricted palette and “ to improve communication with their clients so everyone uses them in larger concentrations. We have only had a small taste on the issue. “Good communication and This means that consumers are more exposed of what’s to come. Flavors comprehension is essential. We need to work [to these ingredients], and so the risks are together on this, as it will allow our clients to greater,” she continues. have been regulated for a long have a better approach to their end consumer,” time, but what we apply to our remarks Blaison. Mane president Michel Mane The labeling conundrum skin hasn’t been a focus for agrees: “Unfortunately, one cannot reverse an In hindsight, 26 was a reasonable number of potential allergens to manage. If (or more very long. Now we’re paying realistically, when) this number more than for decades of negligence Turning to technology triples, the challenges will increase in kind. “Our Some suppliers are taking a proactive customers might tell us that they don’t want approach to the new standards. CPL Aromas more than fve labeled allergens in a formula, Laurent Mercier ” has launched a fragrance technology that and some say they don’t want any allergens Eurofragances global business director creates formulas that help brands bypass at all. In fne fragrance, it’s basically impossible the need for labeling. Called Ecoboost, to make a fragrance with no allergens, so However, the cost of labeling could also be the technology creates fragrances whose customers have to label their packaging. If the passed onto the consumer, which means that ingredients in the fnished product can be number increases to 90, it’s unlikely that they’ll prices will continue to escalate. calibrated to create small dosages, which see this as a manageable to label,” explains Suppliers say that an increased list of allergens means the ingredient does not need to UK-based CPL Aromas group marketing and will complicate the requests they get from their appear on the label. It can also reduce the branding director Francis Pickthall. clients. Some brands (mainly in personal care, amount of alcohol in a formula. In addition, As it looks more than likely that this legislation less so in fne fragrance) stipulate that they the company points out that lower dosages will pass, the industry is now debating how don’t want any allergens at all in their products, mean lower raw material costs. 42 September-October 2014 - N°19 - BW Confidential