Eleven cosmetic companies have received a quality seal as part of a program funded by the National Competitiveness Council and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) aimed at helping beauty industry companies reach export quality level. The program was organized through the Dominican Republic Industries Association (AIRD). The exporters are looking into markets in the United States, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Panama, Spain, Aruba, Cuba, Switzerland, St. Martin, the Bahamas, Virgin Islands and Venezuela where buyers have been located. An editorial in El Dia says that this is a pilot program that can be applied to other non-traditional exports in the country.
The cosmetics companies work together under the Dominican Beauty Products Cluster. The AIRD project, “Design, development and implementation of a global quality control strategy for the Dominican Beauty Products Cluster” led to the drafting of standards to regulate guarantees of quality of Dominican beauty products. The two-year initiative is also in response to the cosmetics manufacturers need to certify their products within a framework established by the regulatory body, to position them for export markets.
AIRD executive vice president Julio Brache said that each of the companies was subject to a rigorous evaluation of their entire operation, from best practices in managing human resources, to the manufacturing process, packaging, validation of quality of raw materials and checks on the strategic plans of each of the certified companies.
Companies certified for export quality are: Boe Cosmetics, Laboratorio Capilo Espanol, Laboratorio Carolina, Laboratorios Dr. Collado, Halka Industrial, Inversiones y Negocios (INESA), Laboratorios JM Rodriguez, Laboratorio MK, Laboratorio Rivas, Laboratorios Royster and Laboratorios Union.