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	Demeter International Global · Tier 2 Trusted	Fairtrade International Global · Tier 3 Specialty	COSMOS-Organic / Natural European Union · Tier 2 Trusted	JAS Organic Japan · Tier 1 Gold
What it means	The certification mark for biodynamic agriculture. Stricter than any government organic standard: it covers the entire farm as a closed ecosystem, follows a planting calendar tied to lunar/solar cycles, and bans many practices the baseline organic rules permit.	Certifies fair prices and conditions for producers in developing countries — not organic, not environmental. Common on coffee, cocoa, sugar, bananas, tea.	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).	Japan's national organic standard under the Japanese Agricultural Standard system. The mark must appear on any food sold as 'organic' (有機 or オーガニック) in Japan.
Scope	Several categories	Food	Cosmetics	Food
Established	1928	1997	2010	2001
Inspection	Annual on-site by Demeter-accredited inspectors	Annual on-site by FLOCERT (independent of Fairtrade International)	Annual on-site by COSMOS-accredited certifier	Annual on-site by MAFF-registered certifier
Residue testing	Risk-based on top of organic	Not for organic — Fairtrade alone doesn't test residues	Risk-based	Required for high-risk operations
Guarantees	All organic standards PLUS biodynamic preparations and whole-farm planning. Whole-farm certification (not single fields/products). Annual on-site inspection by Demeter-accredited inspectors. Animal welfare standards stricter than baseline organic.	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.	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.	≥95% organic ingredients. No synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, no GMOs. Annual inspection by a MAFF-registered certifier.
Does NOT	Biodynamic philosophy includes esoteric elements (lunar planting, herbal preparations) that many scientists view as non-evidence-based — the agronomic outcomes are still good, the underlying claims about cosmic forces are not testable.	Doesn't mean organic — many Fairtrade products are conventionally grown. A separate Fairtrade-Organic dual certification exists.	Doesn't certify clinical effectiveness or skin tolerance.	Mutual recognition with the US, EU, and Canada applies to specific product categories — check each agreement before importing.

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