57. Product Safety: The Value of Voluntary Guidelines with Luminita Barbu

Over the last few years, consumers have become increasingly interested in the safety of products. But they are not alone in their concern. Our industry strives to provide products that can be used with confidence. Governmental bodies create laws and directives to help ensure shoppers are protected from bad actors.

To get insights into the current climate around standards and directives, Host Jack Hughes speaks with Luminita Barbu, Regulatory Affairs Director at EDANA. Together they explore the European Union’s rules and the industry’s actions to protect the health of product users. Though much of the conversation focuses on the EU, it offers insight into what may soon come to other regions of the globe.

The EU’s General Product Safety Directive (GPSD)

As Luminita explains, the GPSD applies to product categories that do not have specific directives associated with them. Through the GPSD, all products are regulated in regards to product safety and consumer health. However, quality standards may not always be clear as to how they are best applied to any given industry. This leaves a critical need that, in some cases, is filled by organisations within the industry itself.

The synergy of regulations and voluntary guidelines

Trade associations bring together industry players seeking to comply in the best way possible and promote safety. They can be more agile, helping manufacturers, suppliers, and others to establish and implement changes. This results in improved flexibility for adapting to innovations and evolving information.

The EDANA Stewardship Program

Luminita describes EDANA as serving the absorbent hygiene industry in several ways. It can:

• Assist with providing valuable information to those crafting regulations
• Help to define and promote best practices on consumer safety, substances of interest, sustainability, and fair trade
• Create standards for raw materials, testing protocols, and supplier conduct
• Make recommendations regarding communications with consumers in a way that is honest, productive, and accessible

Outline of the Episode

• [04:28] Regulations affecting the absorbent hygiene industry
• [08:00] Absorbent hygiene articles have a long history of safety
• [12:33] The General Product Safety Directive
• [14:36] Building trust with the consumer
• [17:00] Safety is achieved with a synergy of mandatory regulation and voluntary standards
• [19:20] Ensuring safety is the role of the entire supply chain
• [24:30] The advantages of voluntary guidelines, and what makes them an effective tool
• [27:09] What absorbent hygiene can learn from other industries

Resources

You can find Luminita Barbu on LinkedIn or leave them a message through our email at [e-mail].

For more information on EDANA, visit edana.org.

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