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	COSMOS-Organic / Natural European Union · Tier 2 Trusted	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing	Luomu (Finland) Finland · Tier 2 Trusted	Fairtrade International Global · Tier 3 Specialty
What it means	The leading certification for organic cosmetics in Europe. Two grades: COSMOS Organic (≥95% organic agricultural ingredients) and COSMOS Natural (no organic minimum, but the same restricted-ingredient list).	The word 'natural' on packaging is a marketing term, not a certification. In most jurisdictions there's no legal definition, no standard, and no inspection. A product labelled 'natural' can contain synthetic ingredients, pesticides, GMOs, and artificial flavours.	Finland's national organic 'Sun Mark' (Aurinkomerkki). Operated by the Finnish Food Authority. In practice most Finnish organic packaging carries both Luomu and the EU Leaf — they certify to the same baseline.	Certifies fair prices and conditions for producers in developing countries — not organic, not environmental. Common on coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, tea.
Scope	Cosmetics	Several categories	Food	Food
Established	2010	—	1995	1997
Inspection	Annual on-site by COSMOS-accredited certifier	None	Annual on-site by Finnish Food Authority	Annual on-site by FLOCERT (independent of Fairtrade International)
Residue testing	Risk-based	None	Required	Not for organic — Fairtrade alone doesn't test residues
Guarantees	COSMOS Organic: ≥95% organic agricultural ingredients. COSMOS Natural: minimum natural-origin ingredients with banned synthetic restrictions. No GMOs, no parabens, no PEGs, no synthetic fragrances, no SLS/SLES. Biodegradability requirements. Annual on-site audit.	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.	EU baseline organic (Finnish supply chains end-to-end). Annual on-site inspection by the Finnish Food Authority.	Minimum price floors for producer cooperatives. Fairtrade Premium paid into community-development funds. Bans on the worst forms of child and forced labour. Producer organisations must be small-farmer cooperatives or hired-labour plantations meeting standards.
Does NOT	Doesn't certify clinical effectiveness or skin tolerance.	Doesn't mean organic. Doesn't mean pesticide-free. Doesn't mean GMO-free. Doesn't mean ethically produced. Some markets (e.g. the US FDA on food, EU on cosmetics) place very limited restrictions on the word, but enforcement is weak.	The Sun Mark is awarded only to fully Finnish supply chains — imports use the EU Leaf alone.	Doesn't mean organic — many Fairtrade products are conventionally grown. A separate Fairtrade-Organic dual certification exists.

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