We have been hoping for this for several years. We talk about it, we imagine it, we expect it… but waiting for the standardized European specifications for natural and organic cosmetics have tended to be like waiting for Godot. However, it does come in. As proof, the meeting of Cosmébio members on May 12 in Paris. On the agenda: issues, explanations, information on the progress of the work and details of implementation. Things are becoming clearer… even if some of them still lack precision.
The Cosmos is this interstellar space, our expanding universe…
The image is easy, but at the end of this information meeting organized by the Cosmébio association, several participants were led to believe that it is not without some analogies with the COSMOS of which we are talking here.
This Cosmos is in fact a contraction of COSMetic Organic Standard, which designates the new European standard for natural and organic cosmetics, resulting from the harmonisation of the different national standards that currently govern them.
Originally there was a legal vacuum
Unlike the food sector, natural and organic cosmetics, which do not fall within the scope of the European Regulation on the production and labelling of organic products, do not benefit, even today, from Community regulations. Only a text drawn up in 2000 by a Committee of experts traces the general terms, but without really going into detail, and the principles it sets out do not have the force of law.
However, as the sector grew, it was necessary to define and regulate them, establish standards to govern and control them.
The European void has therefore been filled by private initiatives, such as Cosmébio and Ecocert in France, BDIH …
