[gap height=”20″]Last month, voters in the UK faced what was probably the biggest voting decision they ever had to make, well for a generation at least. On June 23, everyone of voting age in the UK had the opportunity to cast their votes as to whether we should remain a member of the European Union (EU), or leave it.
[gap height=”20″]If you’re wondering why this situation came about (one which has, by now, been decided), it’s very straightforward. Our Prime Minister, David Cameron, promised to hold a referendum on this if he won the 2015 General Election, which he did (so, who says politicians don’t keep their promises?).
[gap height=”20″]The EU began after World War II to foster economic co-operation, with the idea that countries which trade together are more likely to avoid going to war with each other. Since then, it has grown to become a “single market” allowing for goods and people to move around, essentially as though the member states were one country. The EU has its own currency, the euro, which is used by 19 of the member countries (not the UK), its own parliament, and it now sets rules in a wide range of areas – including the environment, transport, consumer rights and even things like cell phone charges.
[gap height=”20″]It’s now just over 40 years (1975) since the UK voted to join the EU. Since then, there have been numerous changes; many Brits believe, quite simply, that we are paying too much money into the EU and that there is too much control over matters that affect their daily lives. At this writing, opinion polls suggested that there were about an equal number of Brits who, whilst they may not completely agree with everything that comes out of the EU, believed it better to be part of it, and so wanted to remain EU members.
[gap height=”20″]There were far-reaching implications whether the UK stayed within the EU or not; but the details were unknown. Even top economists couldn’t agree on possible impacts. So, how does Joe Public make up his mind on such an important issue? For many, I guess it had to come down to their interest and knowledge on the subject and, importantly, their views on how their own daily lives would be affected.
[gap height=”20″]What will the decision mean for our industry? The only downside I see is one of the major advantages of the EU – our “open border trading.” Whilst this makes economic sense for many markets, including indoor tanning, the fly in the ointment for the UK is that not all EU members follow EU regulations to the letter. For example, in the UK, we have placed enormous effort as an industry to ensure EU regulation compliance. This has been a bit of an uphill battle due to the restricted resources of our enforcement agencies, and also because free movement of goods makes it easy to import product from other EU member countries that are perhaps not as vigilant as the UK about regulation compliance.
[gap height=”20″]And if we’re not EU, I guess the question is whether we will have the appetite to change the regulations that the EU has already imposed upon us. The vast majority of tanning equipment in situ in the UK is built in EU member countries, so will closed trading borders mean additional import costs, ergo higher costs to the salon operator and potential market contraction?
[gap height=”20″]For the Brexit lobby (Britain Exit), the message was to take back ownership of our borders, our laws, our ways of life. For the “Remain” lobby, the underlying message was clear: “Better the devil you know,” although clearly those weren’t the words being used.
[gap height=”20″]Either way, indoor tanning is here to stay, and our focus will remain on responsible tanning – and of course, that’s a global objective. Only time will tell if we continue to work to achieve that … within or outside of the EU.
[gap height=”20″]Only time will tell if we continue to work to achieve our global objective of responsible tanning … within or outside the EU.
