Essential oils no longer on list of products slated for EU tariff increases effective 18 October, a win for US fragrance industry facing uncertainty in tumultuous global trade climate. Fragrancy industry, like dietary supplement manufacturers, still face higher tariffs on imports from China as next round of hikes is scheduled to start 15 October.

The Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act, reintroduced in the US House, exceeds the proposed Personal Care Products Safety Act in the Senate in terms of the duties and resource demands it would impose on companies and the FDA, while leaving states free to regulate cosmetics even more stringently. The proposal now must vie for the attention of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Funding issues appear to have factored in the proposed Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Right to Know Act’s failure to cross the finish line in the first act of the California legislature’s 2019-2020 session. Far from popular with industry stakeholders, SB 574 nevertheless could represent a lesser-of-evils compromise of strategic importance, with further activity expected on the bill in 2020.

“CVS Pharmacy is highly attuned to our customers’ evolving needs and their desire for products that are more sustainable while still being efficacious,” says CVS Health’s George Coleman, senior vice president of merchandising. The retailer is committed to eliminating oxybenzone and octinoxate from CVS-branded sunscreens with SPFs less than 50 by the end of 2020.

“With some products facing tariffs as high as 30%, many businesses will have no choice but to pass along those costs to consumers,” an industry coalition called Americans for Free Trade asserted in an August letter to President Donald Trump in response to proposed escalations of tariffs on Chinese goods. “Price increases will likely hit shoppers just as they are making their holiday purchases,” the group noted.

Currently, representations on product labels dictate the levels of VOC content they are permitted to contain under the California Air Resources Board’s consumer products regulations. In its drive to tighten VOC limits, the agency is considering a change that would make online statements additional controlling factors for VOC categorization, one of several moves the personal-care industry aims to discourage.