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Main evolutions impacting COSMOS certified and approved fragrance compounds
CONTEXT
The COSMOS standards related to Organic and Natural cosmetics is an internationally recognized European standard. It was developed by 5 founding members: BDIH (Germany), COSMEBIO (France), ECOCERT (France), ICEA (Italy) and SOIL ASSOCIATION (United-Kingdom).
Version 4 (v4) of the COSMOS standards was published on 1st January 2023 and entered into force on 1st June 2023.
The transitional measures have been adjusted since the 1st June 2023 and will be integrated into the next version 4.1 of the COSMOS standards:
- New raw materials (fragrance compounds and their ingredients) submitted for certification (COSMOS CERTIFIED) or an approval (COSMOS APPROVED) from 1st June 2023 must comply with v4 of COSMOS standards.
Raw materials certified/approved before 1st June 2023 to v3 of the COSMOS Standards have until 1st December 2024 to comply with the new v4. - Personal Care products submitted for certification after 1st June 2024 must comply with v4 of the COSMOS standards. Cosmetic products that have been certified before 1st June 2024 according to v3 of the COSMOS standards can still be manufactured and have until 1st December 2025 to comply with v4.
COSMOS STANDARDS
The COSMOS certification of organic and natural cosmetics guarantees the respect of human health, biodiversity and environment by:
- Promotion of the use of products from organic agriculture
- Responsible use of natural resources
- Integration and development of the concept of green chemistry
- Selection of appropriate manufacturing and processing processes
- Absence of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s)
- Absence of irradiation
- Absence of the majority of nanomaterials
The complete v4 of the COSMOS standards is available via the following link: cosmos-standard_v40.pdf
This standard is private and certification requires a commitment to an independent and COSMOS accredited certification body: CERTIFY COSMETICS WORLDWIDE | COSMOS International Certification Bodies (cosmos-standard.org)
To be eligible for COSOS certification, all personal care products must first comply with the regulations in force relating to personal care products (cf. point 2. REGULATIONS of the standard).
MAIN EVOLUTIONS OF THE COSMOS STANDARDS V4
The main evolutions in v4 of the COSMOS standards impacting on fragrance compounds are as follows:
- For all products and all raw materials (single or in mixture), the palm oil and its derivatives (point 7.4 of the standard) must be certified organic or sustainable to the following standards: RSPO, SAN, RSB or UEBT. The minimum RSPO certification level required is the Mass Balance (MB) supply chain model.
- For all COSMOS CERTIFIED perfumes and COSMOS ORGANIC certified personal care products, 24 new plants have been added to the list of Physically processed agro-ingredients (PPAI) that must be organic (point 7.1.1 of the standard), available in Appendix VI of the COSMOS standards.
Examples of new plants that must be organic: Cinnamon, Citronella, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Lemongrass, Mint, Orange, Patchouli, Tea tree, Thyme, Ylang Ylang, etc.
Certification according to an Organic Agriculture regulation (CE, NOP, JAS or equivalent), regrouped within the IOFAM Family of Standards or according to other internationally recognised organic standards (example: COSMOS) are accepted. - For the Physically processed agro-ingredients (PPAI), the primary raw materials, and particularly those from the « coconut » sector, must not be harvested/collected by threatened species listed in the IUCN red list (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) (point. 6.1.3 of the standard) belonging to the categories Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU).
Specific transitional measures: The criteria on threatened species must be met before 1st December 2024. - Promotion of sustainable packaging (point 8.3 of the standard) : This criterion is applicable to primary and secondary packaging of finished personal care products and certified raw materials (of which the COSMOS CERTIFED/APPROVED fragrances are part of).
Each sales unit must comply with a minimum of 3 indicators, from a minimum of 2 different principles among the 4R’s: Reduction / Reuse / Renewable / Recycle.
The continuous improvement of the packaging is to be carried out at least every three years, and particularly in the monitoring of quantities of packaging used in relation to the number of products. It is the aim to reduce the quantities of packaging used.
Specific transitional measures: These criteria on packaging must be met before 1st June 2025 (if the submission date is before 1st June 2024).
INGREDIENTS
Among the five categories of ingredients defined by the COSMOS standard, the Physically processed agro-ingredients (PPAI), and the Chemically processed agro-ingredients (CPAI) are the main ingredients used in the formulation of fragrance compounds.
In addition to the new criteria relating to v4 of the COSMOS standards described above, the PPAI and CPAI ingredients must be guaranteed non-GMO, respect the requirements of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and not be obtained from primary raw materials extracted from living or slaughtered animals. They must come from authorized physical or chemical processes (cf. Appendices I and II of the standard).
Other ingredients are authorized and listed in Appendix V of the standards: Preservatives and ethanol denaturants from petrochemical origin, ingredients containing both natural origin and petrochemical moieties, or agro-ingredients extracted with petrochemical solvents such as Absolutes, Concretes, and Resinoids which are only accepted in COSMOS NATURAL certified cosmetics.
CERTIFICATIONS OF PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
According to the COSMOS standard, there are two levels of certification for finished personal care products and the criteria are summarized below:
- Certification « COSMOS NATURAL »:
– No minimum required for organic ingredient content
– 2% maximum of petrochemical moieties in the finished product
- Certification « COSMOS ORGANIC » :
– 20% minimum of organic ingredients in the finished product
(Exemption : 10% minimum of organic ingredients for rince-off products, non-emulsified aqueous products and products with at least 80% minerals or ingredients of mineral origin)
– At least 95% of the PPAI’s must be organic
– PPAI’s present must be organic if they are listed in Appendix VI of the standards
– CPAI’s present and listed in Appendix VII of the standard must be organic: Organic certified Ethyl Alcohol
– 2% maximum of petrochemical moieties in the finished product
NB: The specific rules for these labels and ingredients are fully explained in the COSMOS standards. Here, we talk about the requirements only applicable to the design of a fragrance compound according to this standard.
SOZIO PROVIDES NATURAL AND ORGANIC CERTIFIED PERFUMES THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE COSMOS STANDARDS
SOZIO is committed to the certifying bodies ECOCERT Greenlife and SOIL ASSOCIATION according to the COSMOS standard, and ECOCERT France according to the European Organic Agriculture (AB) 2018/848 regulation.
These commitments allow SOZIO to offer 100% natural fragrances that are approved or organic certified fragrances according to the COSMOS standards, but also Essential Oils (EO) or mixtures of EO’s certified as organic according to Regulation (EU) 2018/848. Our certificates and attestations are provided upon request.
To date, SOZIO has performed the necessary checks of its ingredients with ECOCERT/SOIL ASSOCIATION, and can offer perfumes that comply with v4 of the COSMOS standard.
For any new brief for including a fragrance compliant with this new standard, the nature of the label, the fragrance load/dosage in the finished product, and the percentage of organic ingredients required in the fragrance with the proportions in PPAI/PPAI BIO/CPAI/CPAI BIO will be necessary for the creative development.
FOLLOW UP
If you need any further information about the future regulation on COSMOS standards, please reach out to us via email: regulatory@jesozio.com, or through your designated Sales Representative.
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