Certifications.

COSMOS is the European standard for organic and natural cosmetics, created in 2010 by five certifiers (BDIH, Cosmebio, Ecocert, ICEA and the Soil Association) and administered by the non-profit COSMOS-standard AISBL in Brussels. It has two levels, COSMOS ORGANIC and COSMOS NATURAL, with rules on ingredient origin, processing, packaging and minimum organic content. Certification is done product by product by an approved certifier.

Ecocert is a French certification body founded in 1991, one of the first organisations to define standards for natural and organic cosmetics. Since 2017 its cosmetics certification has been issued under the COSMOS standard, so the Ecocert mark on a product means an accredited third party has audited formula, ingredients and manufacturing against those rules.

Leaping Bunny is the cruelty-free standard run by Cruelty Free International in Europe and the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics in North America. Approved companies commit to no animal testing of finished products, ingredients or formulations anywhere in their supply chain after a fixed cut-off date, and accept independent audits of their suppliers. It is a company-level approval rather than a claim about a single product.

The Vegan Trademark is registered by The Vegan Society, the British charity founded in 1944, and has been licensed to products since 1990. Products carrying it contain no animal ingredients or animal-derived processing aids and have not been tested on animals by or on behalf of the company. Registration is per product, so a brand may carry the mark on only part of its range.

B Corp is a whole-company certification from the non-profit B Lab, founded in 2006. A company must score at least 80 points in the B Impact Assessment, which covers governance, workers, community, environment and customers, amend its governing documents to consider all stakeholders, and recertify every three years. It says nothing about individual products.

PETA's Animal Test-Free programme, formerly Beauty Without Bunnies, lists companies that have signed a written assurance that neither they nor their suppliers conduct, commission or pay for animal tests on ingredients or finished products, including where required by law. The listing rests on that statement and PETA's questionnaire rather than on independent audits, which is the main difference from Leaping Bunny.

AllergyCertified is a Danish certification founded in 2015 that assesses every ingredient in a product for its risk of causing skin allergy, using toxicological data rather than a simple ban list. Certified products must also be free from perfume and comply with EU cosmetics regulation. The assessment is done by the certifier's own toxicologists, product by product.

Climate Neutral Certified is a label from the US non-profit Change Climate, previously known as Climate Neutral. Certified companies measure their full greenhouse-gas footprint across scope 1, 2 and 3, compensate for it with verified carbon credits and commit to reduction plans that are reviewed annually. It certifies the company's carbon accounting and offsets, not the products themselves.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is the official ecolabel of the Nordic countries, established by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1989. Cosmetics carrying the Swan meet criteria on ingredients, including bans on certain substances and requirements on biodegradability and allergens, as well as on packaging and documentation, verified by the national ecolabelling bodies before a licence is granted.

EWG VERIFIED is a mark from the Environmental Working Group, a US non-profit, launched in 2015. Products must avoid the ingredients on EWG's unacceptable list, meet its standards for ingredient and fragrance disclosure and follow good manufacturing practice. It reflects EWG's own hazard assessment framework, which is stricter than regulators on some ingredients.

FSC certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, established in 1993, concerns the paper and board in a product's packaging rather than the cosmetic itself. The FSC mark means the wood fibre comes from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources and has been tracked through a certified chain of custody.

CPK, short for Certifikovaná přírodní kosmetika, is the Czech mark for certified natural cosmetics. It sets rules on the share of natural ingredients and bans a list of synthetic substances, and certification is granted product by product by the Czech certification body behind the standard.

FI-Natura is a Finnish certification for natural cosmetics granted by the Finnish natural cosmetics association Pro luonnonkosmetiikka ry. It sets requirements on the share of natural and organic ingredients, prohibits a list of synthetic ingredients and covers the manufacturing process. Certification is per product.

NATRUE is an international non-profit founded in Brussels in 2007 by manufacturers of natural and organic cosmetics. Its label has two levels, Natural and Organic, with rules on permitted ingredient types, processing and minimum natural and organic content. At least 75 percent of a brand's range must qualify before any product may carry the label, which stops a single product from greenwashing a line.

CPK bio is the organic level of the Czech CPK standard for natural cosmetics. In addition to the natural-cosmetics rules, a defined share of the ingredients must come from certified organic farming. Certification is per product.