Orientation Paper – Organic and Natural Cosmetics

Organic and natural cosmetics are more popular than ever before. In 2015 alone, the natural cosmetics market grew by 10%Organic and natural cosmetics are more popular than ever before. In 2015 alone, the natural cosmetics market grew by 10%[1]; this represents a disproportionately high growth compared to the overall cosmetics market (1.5%[2]).However, the term “natural cosmetics” is not legally defined and there is an overlapping with adjacent fields. “Natural cosmetics”are, for instance, frequently equated with “vegan cosmetics”, but not every natural cosmetic product is vegan and notevery vegan product is also a natural cosmetic product.In order to protect consumer interests and to have a clear delimitation to the adjoining fields, many standards under private lawfor organic and natural cosmetics have established themselves on the international market based on different criteria. Moreover,there are also individual governmental guidelines and recommendations, such as the Austrian Food Code.In order to provide all interested circles with an orientation and an overview of the many different standards, the status quo ofthe core statements in the natural cosmetics standards have been summed up below. In this connection the fundamental criteriafor cosmetic formulations are stated which encompass at least these standards and which, therefore, correspond to the generalconsumer expectations in respect of natural and organic cosmetics in Europe.