With NATRUE certification now available in the UK we speak to technical adviser Richard Swann about what makes the certifier more than just another logo.
Not-for-profit certification specialist NATRUE has announced that its certification is now available within the UK and Ireland. The move has been made possible through a partnership with the Cotswolds-based Biodynamic Association certification team, making it simpler for British and Irish brands to submit their natural and organic beauty products for approval.
Below Richard Swann, technical manager at the BDA, talks us through why certification matters – and how it’s proving controversial for some brands.
What’s the philosophy behind the NATRUE label?
NATRUE provides an established worldwide cosmetics and skin care standard which is driven by a desire to promote integrity and transparency in the natural cosmetics marketplace. The NATRUE label was set up as an international kitemark to help consumers identify products that are genuinely organic and natural, wherever they are in the world.
Consumers can see at a glance whether a product is truly natural, and know that the ingredients will be top quality and free from artificial colours, fragrances and preservatives such as parabens.
How does NATRUE differ from the other certification schemes out there?
Unusually, NATRUE is an international non-profit organisation (the headquarters are in Brussels) whose certifiers (such as our UK office here at the BDA) are independent, giving even more integrity to the certification. The NATRUE label is used worldwide and, unlike some other international schemes such as European certifiers EcoCert or the BDIH, which then team up to work with COSMOS at an international level, with NATRUE there is just one logo – the mark of true quality and authenticity.
Recent research suggests that organic beauty products are losing favour with consumers. How does certification help the industry fight back?Certification helps sort the wheat from the chaff in a busy sector. Many products claim to be natural but are far from it. They get away with it because the criteria for natural and organic cosmetics are not legally defined. A standard such as that set by NATRUE differentiates the ‘nature inspired’ products from the genuinely all-natural with absolutely no artificial additives such as parabens.
The NATRUE criteria has been taken as a point of reference for credible natural and organic cosmetic claims by BEUC, the European consumer association, which just goes to show that NATRUE has got the criteria right as far as consumers are concerned, and the NATRUE standards are the ones to meet.
Should the UK Government legislate on what constitutes an ‘organic product’?
Hopefully certification will increasingly do that job – not only for skincare brands, but also for individual ingredients so that suppliers and producers can work with brands who want to improve and upgrade their formulations with organic ingredients, because NATRUE also certifies raw materials as well as finished products. This should create greater clarity for our industry and increase trade. It should also be emphasised that any organic ingredients used in a formulation must also conform with the EU Organic Regulation for organic production and labelling EC 834/2007.
Currently there’s a large grey area of un-certified beauty products that claim to be organic – how do you advocate dealing with this problem?
There is currently little to be achieved from reporting to Trading Standards unless regulation is there to support those complaints. However the Advertising Standards Authority is on the ball, to keep advertising claims reasonable from brands professing to be organic.
Concerning criteria for claims used in relation to (all) cosmetics, the European Commission services have been working on the implementation of Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 (EU Cosmetics Regulation). DG Health & Consumers (DG SANCO) has established a working group to look at claims currently used in respect of cosmetic products and to identify some claim categories for which the use of specific common criteria should apply.
There is currently no official international standard for what is natural and organic. An International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard for natural and organic cosmetics is currently being developed. In order to avoid duplication of the work at the EU and ISO level, the EU will take into account the progress on the future ISO standard and will consider whether or not to develop EU specific criteria for natural and organic claims.
Consumers are often confused by certification labels – how do you communicate effectively with consumers to explain your ethos?
In 2013 NATRUE will dedicate additional efforts in promoting the label here in the UK, which is one of the biggest European markets for cosmetics. There is great potential for expanding the NATRUE certification in the UK, and the NATRUE team will be attending several events and trade fairs in order to meet companies directly.
For more information about NATRUE certification see www.natrue.org
