No European Cosmetics Shows in 2020?

In an open letter to the global cosmetics industry, the European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients (EFfCI) urged the industry to cancel scheduled and rescheduled events for 2020. According to EFfCI: 

As with all industries, the cosmetics industry has been deeply affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. We have been dealing with the same difficulties as everyone – restrictions on movement, issues with having enough materials and people be able to deliver, and coping with uncertainty.

As part of the restrictions, all of our normal industry touchpoints – conferences, exhibitions and seminars – have been postponed or cancelled, as a necessary step to protect people’s health  and wellbeing. As we start to think about possible easing of restrictions, and a potential return to more normal working, so we see the organisers of our industry events also trying to cope with a partial return to normality.

What we would say to those organisers is this: We fully understand and sympathise with the issues caused by major events being postponed and cancelled. We understand that this is your business which is being impacted, as has ours. We understand your desire to recover as quickly as circumstances allow. What we cannot work with, are attempts to fit a whole year of events into 3 or 4 months of the year. We do not feel confident that it will be appropriate (or even permitted) to organise gatherings of many hundreds of people, possibly from around the globe, until we can be sure that we are not creating risks to their health, and that of their families.

We all look forward to the time when we will be able to meet together, and enjoy the company of our peers and customers. We do not feel that that time is during what remains of 2020. We ask organisers of events to take this on board. To those whose events have already been cancelled, we would say that rescheduling for later in 2020 is not appropriate. Our members must operate in a manner which is consistent with the public health guidance and instructions issued in the countries in which they are based and also in which their staff operate. We have consulted with our members to understand their views regarding conferences in the coming months and we would report that most of the people in EFfCI we have spoken to will not attend, or will not be allowed to attend. We understand that this view is taken by many of the people who would come as visitors. We respectfully suggest that you wait until the 2021 event would be scheduled, and we will be delighted to come, as circumstances allow. To those whose events are scheduled to take place later in the year, we urge you to listen to the advice of governments and experts about the safety of such gatherings, and act appropriately.

Trade events are a part of the life-blood of our industry. We have sorely missed the opportunity to meet, exchange ideas and opinions, and to launch our innovations and new concepts. It is far more important that we know we are behaving responsibly, and putting the health and safety of people first.