After six years of intensive work and an international public consultation of three months, the European Cosmetics Standards Working Group has released the final outcome with the publication of Cosmos-standard, which harmonises the minimum requirements for organic and natural cosmetics of Europe’s leading certifications bodies: Soil Association (UK), BDiH (Germany), Cosmebio and Ecocert (France), ICEA (Italy) and Ecogarantie (Belgium). Combined, these agencies provide certification to about 1,000 cosmetic companies and 10,000 products

Certification of the new Cosmos standard is expected to begin in September 2009, once the agencies will have harmonized the key points of the subsequent control plan.

Setting internationally accepted rules?

The objective of this new Standard is ambitious and goes beyond the harmonization of European rules as concerned certification bodies clearly show their ambition to go further with the setting of an internationally accepted standard for organic and natural cosmetics. “Other certification/inspection bodies that are not members of the group will have the possibility to apply to use this Standard. The procedure for application and authorisation will be opened as from September 30th, 2009” explains Francis Blake of Soil Association.

However, according to Organic Monitor, a market research agency specialising on natural and organic products, “Cosmos is losing impetus because of its lengthy gestation period. A number of new initiatives, introduced in the last 18 months, are gaining momentum and could outpace Cosmos”.

Organic Monitor says that the NaTrue certification, which was launched in May 2008, with the first certified products coming into the market at the end of the year, is growing in popularity, “partly because it is backed by some of the leading brands of natural cosmetics in Europe”.

Emerging standards on other continents

Furthermore, a number of developments are occurring in the USA, where three separate initiatives are now moving forward with the backing of large cosmetic manufacturers.

The frontrunner is Natural Products Association (NPA), which launched its natural standard in May 2008. Over 200 products are now certified according to the NPA standard. Burt’s Bees is one of the main supporters of the NPA standard, providing US $1 million to raise awareness of the new standard and NPA logo.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) standard is expected to gain popularity. The NSF 305 standard is for cosmetic products that contain a minimum of 70% organic ingredients. Developed by leading organic cosmetic companies, it has recently received official recognition by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The main rival to the NSF 305 standard is OASIS, supported by large companies like Aveda and Hain Celestial.

Organic Monitor also notes that similar developments are occurring in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific where a number of private standards have been introduced.

Towards inter-regional standards

Organic Monitor expects standards that provide regional coverage to be the most successful. The company considers that NaTrue is winning support because of its uniform labelling scheme, while Cosmos will not replace any of the existing symbols and logos. “For this reason, initial interest in Cosmos is expected to mainly come from companies who already have products certified by Cosmos member organisations,” says Organic Monitor.

The NaTrue standard is also taking the lead for a possible global natural and organic cosmetics standard. It has already entered an equivalency agreement with NSF for its made with organic ingredients standard. A similar equivalency agreement with NPA for the natural standard is scheduled to be signed in July.