I believe that it always good to get the bad news out of the way first. As you may have read in my past articles and Member Updates, I was in Luxemburg last year presenting the misinformation about the research against our industry to the European Commission. The report put out by SCHEER on the negative effects of sunbeds came out and stated that no UV exposure levels were safe. There was very little press on the report, and the European Commission seemed to have done nothing with the report. The report suggested a total ban.

You may or may not know this, but for the last three years our opponents have been trying to get the government of France to ban indoor tanning. This Spring, the French government moved to stricter regulations without a total ban. At the same time, our opponents tried to push the Belgium government for a total ban, and they came out with stricter regulations without a ban. The EU mandates an under-18 ban with exposure limits known as the 0.3 lamp.

Things started to happen in June 2017 with numerous reports coming out. First there was a conference in the EU to further discuss the SCHEER report with bureaucrats from the European Commission. Also at the conference, representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) presented a new report on sunbed use that seemed to mimic and use the SCHEER report, but includes recommendations for government to ban or restrict usage. Two days before the conference, WHO send out a press release about the new report which hasn’t been updated since 2003. The WHO report mainly covers recommendation to governments on legislating the sunbed industry or a total ban. Most of the recommendations that the WHO recommended, JCTA Members have been following for years. The big push in the report was training, self-serve equipment ban and ban for Skin Type 1 and 2. Again, the JCTA Professional Standards do demand everything except a ban on Skin Type 2, and if you have professional insurance in Canada you must follow these as recommendations.

A week later in June, Superior Health Council of Belgium comes out with another report and is asking Belgium to do a total ban, which they rejected last month. The good news is, the Belgium tanning association has already set up a meeting with government officials to discuss ways not to ban the industry.

Now for the good news part of this, all the tanning associations around the world are working together to fix this and educate politicians that there is no need for a total ban, but all have limited funding. There is a need to have control over the equipment. We are now ahead and preparing for our opponents, but this can’t be done without funding and memberships.

Governments will move ahead with stricter regulations without a strong industry association that represents the majority of salons. If you don’t understand why you need to be a member, hopefully the above gave you some insight. Governments work with associations that want to protect their clients and have control over their industry. We all don’t like being told what to do, but there’s a need to follow standards. These standards in the long run will benefit us. For example, back in early 2000s as Smart Tan VP for Canada, I educated insurance companies on standards for the industry and that gave us reduced insurance premiums. These same standards are being promoted to the government to show we are in control and reduce the risk of stricter regulations. If you don’t want more regulations, you should join the JCTA and Smart Tan.

If you don’t think any of these reports will show up here in Canada, we just heard that a conference is being setup next year similar to ones in Europe and Australia. The head of the section for the WHO, who was a coauthor for the report mentioned above, is a Canadian living in Geneva. We expect some media attention this year and next. The JCTA is updating it’s 2013 UV Report, more government newsletters will go out, press kit will be created and press releases, if funds are there.

Now for the great news, the JCTA Lifestyle Social Media Campaign that ran from mid December to the end of June was a great success. With over a dozen ads running, mostly video ads on Facebook. We had almost 1.6 million impressions on Facebook and Google combined. The JCTA drove almost 36,000 new Canadians to www.TanResponibly.ca . When they hit the website, every page they saw the closest 3 salon members to them – geotargeting works. There were other sponsored events that can not be mentioned in this article that were paid for by member funding. Over a third of the member funds went to marketing. Over the summer and fall the JCTA will create another Social Media campaign for the 2017/2018 season.

I’d like to personally thank everyone for their support over the years.

Isn’t it time you join and show everyone you believe in standards that protect your clients and you support the indoor sunbathing community? Government are listening for the first time, but we need to be a majority. Think of your membership as part of your marketing budget; you don’t have to counter bad press. More savings are coming for JCTA members. Please check out why you should be a member at https://tancanada.org/why-join-the-jcta/