Forum aims to build Asia’s cosmetics industry

This association is to hold a meeting of cosmetic leaders in the region to discuss points of interest with the relevant government bodies. Giang answered Pam’s questions regarding the ACA Cosmetic Leaders Forum to share information with Personal Care readers.

PC: What is the ASEAN Cosmetic Association (ACA)?

LCG: The ASEAN Cosmetic Association (ACA) was founded in 1997 by the presidents of the cosmetic Associations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The objective was to create a strong regional association to facilitate the movement of cosmetics within ASEAN and to support its members in enhancing their competitiveness in the response to globalisation. With a market of more than 500 million people, ASEAN is a very important player in the global trade with a high potential for future growth. ASEAN has envisioned an Economic Community by 2015 and a lot of initiatives have been put in place. Economic integration is not just about cutting or removing tariffs on trade; ASEAN countries have to make sure that non-tariff barriers are removed as well. In the cosmetic sector, the industry had experienced difficulties in moving the products within the region due to different regulatory requirements. As such, in 1997 the ASEAN Cosmetic Association approached the ASEAN governments and proposed harmonisation of regulations to ensure that consumers in ASEAN are provided with safe, good quality cosmetics and at the same time eliminate unnecessary requirements that can hamper their movement in the region. To that end, in 2003 the ASEAN Harmonized Cosmetic Regulatory Scheme was signed by the governments of the 10 ASEAN Member Countries. The ASEAN Cosmetic Directive entered into force on 1 January 2008 and the grace period for existing products will finish by the end of 2010. For more than 10 years, ACA has been proactive in working closely with its members as well as collaborating and supporting the regulatory agencies to put in place the right infrastructure for the implementation of the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive. ACA is now moving to a new period where we expect it to be an internationally recognised association. Recently, we have developed a new vision, mission and strategies for ACA and have restructured our organisation. One of our big projects is to organise the ACA Cosmetic Leaders Forum early in 2011.