Accantia, the Birmingham-based health and beauty company, owner of the Simple Skincare brand will today join forces with Sir Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, to present the case for the UK's cosmetics industry, which, it claims, is being crippled by regulation from Europe.
In a week which has already seen CBI president, John Sunderland confront Chancellor Gordon Brown over the tax and red tape burden for UK PLC, Sir Digby will take up the mantle of the £6 billion sector at a forum on red tape and regulation.
Geoff Percy, chief executive of Accantia and current chairman of the CTPA - the UK trade association of the cosmetics and toiletries industry - said: "In common with other sectors we believe that regulation and bureaucracy has gone too far.
"The Seventh Amendment to the Cosmetics Directive took three years to reach the statute books; in addition to direct costs, it increases our administrative burden but has made no real difference to the consumer.
"It is yet another straw on the camel's back and we don't believe the bulk of the directive has been a good use of the European Commission's resources. We welcome the Government's belated recognition of the general problem of bureaucracy and overregulation but we want to see some action and tangible results."
Sir Digby added: "The CBI is pleased with the better regulation measures outlined in Budget 2005, since this agenda must be at the heart of the UK's battle to be competitive.
"One of the most important challenges facing the new Government is to maintain the momentum behind the better regulation drive, kick-started by the Hampton and Arculus reports."
