The Natural Products Association (NPA), the leading U.S. trade organization for manufacturers, retailers and distributors of natural products, and NaTrue, the International Natural and Organic Cosmetics Association headquartered in Brussels, have announced that they will work toward establishing a mutual recognition agreement.

Both organizations have created standards for the certification of natural personal care. Once in place, the agreement would mean that products complying with either the NPA or NaTrue standard would be recognized by each body as compliant with their harmonized standards.

The NPA standard was launched in May 2008 and over 340 products and ingredients have been certified to date. The NaTrue standard was launched in September 2008 with over 390 products certified, including natural, made with organic, and organic products, and is now open to raw material certification.

Both parties hope to have the formal agreement in effect by summer of 2010.