Organic Cosmetics

Organic cosmetics accreditation refers to the process of evaluating and certifying that an organization or product is competent to produce, process, or sell organic cosmetics in accordance with relevant organic standards. Organic cosmetics are products that are made with natural, organic, or environmentally friendly ingredients, and are intended to be more sustainable and less harmful to the environment than conventional cosmetics.

To obtain accreditation as an organic cosmetics organization or product, an organization must typically demonstrate that it has the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to produce, process, or sell organic cosmetics in a competent and reliable manner. It may also be required to have a quality management system in place that meets the requirements of the relevant accreditation standards.

The ECO Label scheme is a voluntary accreditation for organic and natural cosmetics which was established and is operated by ECO Label standard.

Accreditation is provided by United States Accreditation Inc. or other accreditation bodies approved by COSMOS-standard. Accreditation is required to be performed in line with ISO IEC 17065.

The ECO Label Accreditation programme is open to any certification body which meets the requirements of the programme and has been pre-approved by the scheme owner. Approved certifiers sign a contract with ECO Label standard and join the association as Associate Members. Forms for membership application, application for approval and the certifier contract with ECO Label can be downloaded for free from the ECO Label web site.

On accreditation, certification bodies are required to conclude a contract with ECO Label standard  which includes payment of an annual fee. Contact details and approved scopes of the accredited CBs are published on the ECO Label web site.

Scheme requirements:

Certification Bodies applying for approval as ECO Label standard certifiers must:

• simultaneously apply for (associate) membership of ECO Label standard;
• have a valid accreditation to perform certification for at least one standard according to ISO 17065;
• be sufficiently qualified/have experienced staff to perform certification of the scopes for which they are applying;
• have developed clearly defined procedures for certification of the scopes for which they are applying; and
• certify against the ECO Label standard.

The requirements of the scheme are available in the ECO Label Control Manual and are based on the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies formulated by ECO Label, the certification body must implement inspection/certification of products according to the ECO Label standard without additional requirements, and/or existing own standards must be fully in accordance with the ECO Label standard.

Operators can be certified under the following categories:

• Certification of cosmetic products under natural or organic certification and physically processed agro-ingredients not falling within the scope of existing recognized international or national organic standards.
• Certification of chemically processed agro-ingredients with organic content and approval of ingredients with no organic content that are acceptable for use under the ECO Label standard.