Soil Association to introduce Cosmos standards logos from next month

Natural and organic certification body the Soil Association has announced that from next month it will certify all new cosmetic products that qualify with the Cosmos organic and natural standards logos.

The Cosmos logos will be phased in from the beginning of 2017 in an effort to harmonise international cosmetics standards “with a recognisable symbol shoppers can trust”. The changes will apply to all new or reformulated products to market from January.

Cosmos was developed by the Soil Association and four European partners to address the lack of legislation and consumer confusion in the international organic and natural cosmetics market. Cosmos standards offer three levels of certification to guarantee that natural and organic claims on packaging are genuine. Cosmos Organic means the product must contain at least 95% organic ingredients if based on oils and extracts, or otherwise, at least 20% of the ingredients must be organic, Cosmos Natural certifies products that contain natural ingredients and which might contain a small percentage of organic ingredients, and Cosmos Made with Organic is for products that clearly show the percentage of organic ingredients included.

The Cosmos framework says the entire supply chain of a product must be verified, including product packaging and cleaning materials used in production facilities, in order to provide a guarantee of the quality and integrity of the product.

Lauren Bartley, Soil Association health and beauty development manager, said: “Finding certified organic or natural cosmetics should be easy. The move to harmonise organic and natural cosmetics standards through Cosmos is as exciting step towards extending this reach. People buying organic and natural cosmetics with the Cosmos logo can be confident they are buying a product they can trust.”