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Natural & Organic Cosmetics Standards & Body Care Certifications



Natural and organic certification bodies fulfill a worldwide demand for certifying organic food, organic beauty care and body care products. There are several such well recognized bodies in the North America and Europe. They are listed in the table below. If a product has one of the organic beauty care & organic body care certifications below it is considered a natural or organic product depending on the level of certification. A product that is certified by one of the organizations below can indeed be trusted that every ingredient in the product is made from certified organic food/agricultural ingredients thus making it organic.


Organic Beauty Care & Organic Body Care Certifications

STANDARD PUBLISHED DESCRIPTION
USDA Organic Logo 2005 USDA Organic, USA USDA is a highly stringent set of organic standards for food manufacturers that requires at least 95% organic ingredients to use the "Organic" logo. Products that use 100% organic ingredients can use the "100% Organic" logo.
NSF Logo
 2009 NSF, USA NSF is also a US based organic standards, along with USDA, for cosmetic manufacturers. The NSF 305 standard is for cosmetic products that contain a minimum of 70% organic ingredients to use its "made with organic" claim. NSF Organic standards for cosmetics was developed by leading organic cosmetic companies. It has recently received official recognition by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
OASIS Logo 2008 OASIS, USA Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards (OASIS) has developed standards for 'organic' and 'made with organic' products requiring 85 percent organic content and 70 percent organic content respectively. The standards are less stringent than the USDA's but stricter than Ecocert's which requires a minimum of only 10 percent organic content. Allows an even broader array of preservatives than NSF, and similar chemical processes to NSF.
Natrue Logo 2008 NaTrue, European Union NaTrue is a non-profit organization formed by natural cosmetic manufacturers in Europe. NaTrue has created a 3 star system as follows: Natrue 3-star requires 95% of all agricultural ingredients to be from NaTrue's acceptable list of ingredients to be certified as "organic cosmetics". 2-star requires 70% of all ingredients to be from NaTrue's acceptable list to be certified as "natural cosmetics with organic content". Finally, a 1 star requires a maximum of 5-15% (depending on the product category) of ingredients from NaTrue's acceptable list to be certified as "natural cosmetics"
COSMOS
European Union		 2009 COSMOS is the first European harmonized standard for natural and organic cosmetics created by the leading natural & organic cosmetic certification agencies in Europe: BDiH (Germany), Soil Association (UK), Ecocert (France), Cosmebio (France), ICEA (Italy) and Ecogarantie (Belgium). Combined, these agencies provide certification to about 1,000 cosmetic companies and 10,000 products. COSMOS requires 95% of agricultural ingredients to be organic. 20% of total product by weight must be organic including water. COSMOS allows a maximum of 5% synthetic content.
BDIH Logo 1995 BDIH, Germany The BDIH is an international certification organization from Germany that has strict standards for the manufacture of natural cosmetics. BDIH certified natural cosmetics are made using raw materials that are natural and organic and that are manufactured to comply with very strict environmental guidelines. Products that bear the BDIH certification logo only use natural raw materials such as plant oils, plant derived waxes, herbal extracts and essential oils and aromatic materials from certified organic biological cultivation or controlled biological wild collection. Manufacturers of BDIH certified natural cosmetics must be socially responsible and are required to support fair trade and socially responsible production. All BDIH products can be trusted to contain natural ingredients. However, it is possible for a BDIH product to have no organic ingredients and contain only natural content.
Soil Association Logo 2002 Soil Association, United Kingdom The Soil Association (SA) organic symbol is the UK's largest and most recognizable trademark for natural and organic produce. A product that carries the Soil Association symbol and is labeled organic, must contain a minimum of 95% organic ingredients. A product that carries the Soil Association symbol and is labeled as "made with x% organic ingredients" must contain a minimum of 70% organic ingredients. The remaining ingredients that are permitted in the products must be proven to be non-GM and can only be used: if the organic version of that ingredient is not available, or they are from a restricted list of synthetic chemicals that have been assessed to demonstrate that they have no detrimental impact on human health and that they have minimum environmental impact. Soil Association excludes water in their calculation. However, if water is used to create an ingredient, the weight of the water in contrast to the weight of the plant being used determines its organic percentage. This method precludes manufacturers from manipulating their organic content levels by using organic floral waters to boost their organic percentage.
Cosmebio Logo 2002 Cosmebio, France Eco-Cert COSMEBIO provides two labels: BIO logo and ECO logo defined as follows. Both BIO and ECO require a minimum 95% of natural ingredients and a maximum of 5% of ingredients of synthetic origin. However, BIO requires that 95% of the ingredients must be from the certified list of ingredients where as ECO requires that a minimum of 50% of the ingredients must be from the certified list of ingredients. Cosmebio is only available to French manufacturers, and is certified by Eco-cert. Eco-cert is available to manufacturers all over the world.
Eco-Cert Logo 2002 Eco-Cert, France Requires a minimum 95% of natural ingredients and a maximum of 5% of ingredients of synthetic origin. 10% of total product by weight (including the weight of water) must be organic.
AIAB/ICEA Logo 2003 ICEA, Italy / AIAB, Italy ICEA/AIAB provide organic and sustainable certification in Italy. They maintains an extensive list of ingredients not permitted in natural and organic cosmetics. ICEA/AIAB do not require a minimum organic content level and water is not considered in the organic content.
Biogarantie Logo 2004 Biogarantie, Belgium Biogarantie follows similar rules to Ecocert and is an essential tool that helps consumers to identify natural and organic products.
NASAA Logo 2005 NASAA, Australia NASAA is a food certification body similar to the Soil Association that has also developed a standard for cosmetic product. NASAA restricts numerous synthetic ingredients and processes used in cosmetics. NASAA requires that the raw materials used in making the organic body care products should be certified as organic. The processing should be minimal and should ensure that the natural properties of the raw materials are maintained. The packaging material should not have any environmental impact and should have the ability to be recycled. NASAA requires the labeling tobe elaborate and should provide clear and accurate information to the consumers. A good feature of the standards is that a product can be labeled "organic" only if 95% of its constituents are certified organic. Moreover, salt and water and not included in this 95% requirement. Manufacturers, who are not able to meet such high standards, can label their products as "made with organic ingredients", if 70% of the constituents (excluding salt and water) are certified organic. Such products, however, cannot use the NASAA label.
Biocosc Logo 2006 Biocosc, Switzerland For a product to obtain the Biocosc label, it must meet the following criteria: a minimum of 97% of the total ingredients should be natural or of natural origin, a minimum of 10% of the total ingredients should also come from organic agriculture, the raw natural ingredients should be obtained by simple processes and should be free of all contaminants, such as pesticides, GMO's, hydrocarbons, nitrates, etc. and the external packaging should be a non-pollutant and recyclable. The following are all strictly prohibited: Parabens, phenoxyethanol, PEG, EDTA, formaldehyde, phtalates, sodium laureth sulfate, and other synthetic colorants, synthetic preservatives, synthetic fragrances, synthetic antioxidants and emollients, synthetic lipids and oils, as well as silicon and other ingredients originating from petrochemical processes, such as vaseline and paraffin.

Natural & Organic Beauty Care, Facial Care, Skin Care & Mineral Makeup from Nature's Basin

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