Criteria for the use of the Terms Natural and Pure in Cosmetic Labelling

RECOMMENDED CRITERIA FOR THE USE OF THE
TERM “NATURAL”

“Natural” means essentially that the product is comprised of natural ingredients, e.g. ingredients produced by nature, not the work of man or interfered with by man. It is misleading to use the term to describe cosmetic product or ingredients that employ chemicals to change their composition or comprise the products of new technologies, including additives and flavourings that are the product of the chemical industry or extracted by chemical processes. ‘Natural’, or its derivatives, should not be included in brand or fancy names, nor in coined phrases, in such a way as to imply that a cosmetic product is natural or made from natural Ingredients.

The principles set out above in this section on “natural” also apply to the use of other words or expressions, such as “real”, “genuine”, “pure” etc with separate and distinctive meanings of their own, when used in place of “natural” in such a way as to imply similar benefits.

Other claims (which might be termed ’negative claims’) that do not use the term “natural” or its derivatives directly, but the effect of which is to imply “naturalness” to the consumer, are potentially misleading and confusing.

The following should not be used:

statements or implications which give undue emphasis to the fact that a product is “free from certain non-natural additives or categories of additives”, when the product contains other non-natural additives;

These criteria do not affect ‘negative claims’ which do not imply “naturalness” to the consumer, (such as “free from x”, where “x” is a particular additive), and where the statement may provide consumers with accurate and beneficial information.

RECOMMENDED CRITERIA FOR THE USE OF THE
TERM “PURE”

‘Pure’ should not be included in any brand or fancy names, nor in coined or meaningless phrases, in such a way as to imply that a cosmetic product that does not meet the criteria above is pure or made from pure ingredients.

In stark contrast with the Food industry, there is no current definition of the words ‘Natural’ or ‘Pure’ in the Cosmetics industry.

The result is that cosmetics that use these terms on their labelling usually contain many synthetic chemicals that are not natural or pure.

The ONLA have, therefore, created a definition that replicates very closely the definition of the Food Standards Agency in the UK.

The aim of the ONLA is to have these definitions defined in law to ensure that all cosmetics will be labelled honestly in a way that does not confuse the consumer.