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	JAS Organic Japan · Tier 1 Gold	Demeter International Global · Tier 2 Trusted	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing	Nordic Swan Ecolabel Nordic Countries · Tier 3 Specialty
What it means	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.	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.	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.	The official environmental label of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland). Covers ~60 product categories from cleaning products to hotels — NOT specifically an organic standard.
Scope	Food	Several categories	Several categories	Several categories
Established	2001	1928	—	1989
Inspection	Annual on-site by MAFF-registered certifier	Annual on-site by Demeter-accredited inspectors	None	On-site + product review by national Ecolabel office
Residue testing	Required for high-risk operations	Risk-based on top of organic	None	Risk-based per category
Guarantees	≥95% organic ingredients. No synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, no GMOs. Annual inspection by a MAFF-registered certifier.	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.	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.	Lifecycle-based environmental criteria for the product category. Restrictions on hazardous chemicals. Recyclability and packaging requirements. Audited every 3-5 years against an updated standard.
Does NOT	Mutual recognition with the US, EU, and Canada applies to specific product categories — check each agreement before importing.	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. 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.	Doesn't certify food as organic — Nordic Swan on a food package means lower-environmental-impact, not 'no synthetic pesticides'.

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