Certification aims to give certainty about a particular quality related to a product or service. Its aim is to give the customer or client a feeling of trust, without them having to dive into complex reasoning and research. In this article, I would like to explain a variety of certification models available that are associated with different levels of scrutiny and give an overview of what I believe are the most interesting certifications available for our industry today.
Certifications; how it started
In the cosmetic industry, product certification started because of the lack of a legal definition behind natural and organic beauty products, making it really difficult for consumers to know what is truly natural and what is not.
About twenty years ago, several organizations came up with their own standard to define natural and organic cosmetics and trademarked their logo, which the product would carry on its packaging, advertising and information. Some of these organizations are certification bodies (Cosmos standard), and some German beauty brands (Natrue standard). Brands who decide voluntarily to follow one or other of these standards go through a certification process, and they are then entitled to use the associated logo on products, publicity and documentation so that consumers recognize that it has a natural quality, and they do so in one look, without needing to be a cosmetic scientist.
Because consumers care about other qualities, that are not defined by the regulatory bodies, the number of voluntary certifications has grown over the years. For example, there are certifications defining vegan products, environmentally and socially friendly wild cropping, and sustainable palm oil supply chains. In the US, where the national regulations are not as stringent as Europe’s, there are also certifications addressing consumers’ safety concerns.
Who knows what’s next?
Certifications models
When it comes to certification, there are three models available: self-certification, second-party certification and third-party certification.
Self-certification means that the brand states by itself the natural or naturally derived content based on a particular definition of natural, i.e. the ISO 161281. There is no other party involved.
Second-party certification applies when the brand follows a private standard and the organization behind that standard verifies compliance, usually via documentation checking. An example of this model is the vegan certification and the leaping bunny logo.
Third-party certification is the one that involves the highest level of scrutiny and also impartiality. The owner of the standard does not deal with the certification process directly but there are separate accredited certification bodies that ensure compliance, not only via checking documents but also utilizing yearly inspections or audits. Given the higher level of scrutiny that this type of certification demands, they tend to have a higher price tag.
Cosmos
Cosmos is the most popular of the third-party certification standards, with over 33,000 certified finished products all over the world, although these are mainly centered on Europe2. The standard contains several sustainability criteria, from green chemistry to deforestation, safety precautionary principles avoiding nanoparticles and irradiation and even packaging. It consists of two levels of certification, Cosmos Natural and Cosmos Organic, the latter requiring a minimum organic content of 20% for leave-on and 10% for rinse-off and mineral products. Both levels of certifications permit the presence of 2% synthetic content but only for very specific substances, not across the spectrum.
This standard allows several cosmetic applications, including skincare, haircare, color cosmetics, suncare and even aerosols (nitrogen-based only).
Natrue
This third-party certification is closer to a more “purist” concept of natural, and therefore it does not allow reconstitution to boost the organic content or for the use of substances with petrochemical components – with the exception of nature-identical preservatives and inorganic pigments. The Natrue standard also includes sustainability criteria for ingredients and packaging.
At present there are two levels of certification, “natural cosmetic” and “organic cosmetic”, but there are still products on the market that were part of a discontinued third level of certification, which was for “natural with organic content”. Both current levels of certification require a minimum natural content and a maximum naturally derived content, depending on the application3. For example, natural emulsions require a minimum of 30% natural content and a 30% maximum content of natural derived content, whereas organic emulsions require the same minimum natural content, of which at least 95% must be organic, and 20% maximum natural derived content.
The cosmetic applications achievable according to the Natrue standard are similar to Cosmos, however, haircare is more challenging because of the limited choice of completely natural derived cationics.
EWG
The EWG standard works as a second-party certification model based on assessing product safety via its database of ingredients, literature, and regulations. Biodegradability and natural origins are not considered. The data is then used by a team of experts to generate scores from 1 to 10, which are available to the public as Skin Deep ratings. Even if this rating may be controversial in the beauty industry, the simplicity behind it is very appealing and attracts as well as influences consumers from all over the world.
The product certification, known as EWG verified, applies only to some cosmetic applications, such as baby products and hair products, etc. It also requires full disclosure of the formula, including the fragrance and minerals coating composition along with a best before, or period after, opening and a preservative efficacy test like the European regulations require. Ingredients that score highly are not permitted.
As MOCRA (Modernization of Cosmetics Act 2022) will be finalized later this year, it will be interesting to see if and how EWG verification will stay relevant for consumers.
To certify or not?
Regulations do not always fulfill the consumers’ growing need for safer and more environmentally friendly validated products, in a very competitive market where greenwashing is rampant.
Certifications, especially the ones following the third-party model, can provide a credible point of difference to consumers looking for products meeting their values. This is proven by the number of ingredients suppliers and brands choosing certification, even multiple ones, constantly growing over the years.
It is also important to understand the implications of formulating according to a standard, and of choosing a mark that aligns with the overall brand concept and has the necessary recognition in the target market.
Resources
- https://www.iso.org/standard/65197.html
- https://www.cosmos-standard.org/en
- https://natrue.org/
- https://www.ewg.org/ewgverified/standards.php
- https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/modernization-cosmetics-regulation-act-2022
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