The NATURE THANX certification process: therapy-supporting natural cosmetics
The standard describes the requirements for raw materials, packaging and the composition of the recipe. As a vegan product, the standard states that no raw materials may contain animal ingredients.
The certification process is carried out by the certification body and consists of several steps.
Certification process
The certification and inspection bodies approved by the GfaW standards work in accordance with ISO 17065 and have many years of experience in certifying natural products.
There is a three-stage process for certifying the products:
- Stage: Testing of the products including proof of quality requirements in accordance with the standard
- Stage: Implementation of initial audit GMP basic requirements, packaging and labels
- Stage: Annual monitoring audits
Test intervals
Further monitoring of conformity takes place through annual on-site audits depending on the risk classification.
The purpose of the audit is to trace batches back to the origin of the raw materials using randomly selected products. The production processes, hygiene in accordance with GMP and packaging are also monitored in the on-site audit.
Non-conformity and withdrawal of the mark
If a product does not comply with the standard in stage 1 and stage 2 – the initial audit – has not been passed or all deviations have not been rectified, the company will not receive a certificate. The certificate will not be issued until all ingredients, packaging materials and labels are compliant and auditability has been verified. The applicant therefore has time to change the recipe or replace the non-compliant raw materials before production begins, and stage 3 only takes place after the start of production of compliant products.
If deviations from the standard are identified in stage 3, the following reactions and sanctions apply:
- Deviations (certification is not at risk)
The company has 1 to 3 months to provide evidence that it has initiated measures to rectify the deviations.
The non-conformities must be rectified by the next audit at the latest. The certification body decides whether the nonconformity has been rectified.
- Non-conformity (certification is at risk)
In the event of non-conformity with the standard, the company takes immediate action to establish conformity.
Products affected by non-conformity must be immediately blocked for sale and relabeled as quickly as possible. They may not bear the quality mark. The notifying party shall publish information on its website as to which products (state the batch number!) are affected by the non-conformity.
The certificate is withdrawn for this product and can only be re-issued after re-registration and completion of stages 1, 2 and 3.
The certification body monitors the measures and then carries out stages 1, 2 and 3.
If the certification body identifies non-conformity with the standard in the level 3 audit, the manufacturing company is entered in a risk level. This means that the two follow-up audits are more extensive. If there were no more deviations or non-conformities in these audits, the manufacturing company drops out of the risk level and receives normal audits.
Withdrawal of the certificate and use of the mark
If the non-conformities have not been rectified within the period specified by the certification body, the certificate will be withdrawn from the company and the use of the mark will expire.
Goods that have already been produced and labeled must then be relabeled or even withdrawn from the market. These conditions are regulated in the license agreements.
Requirements for certification bodies
The certification body assures GfaW by contract of the following
- impartial and neutral certification;
- to be accredited according to ISO 17065 and to work accordingly;
- only use personnel for certifications and audits who have expertise and experience in the following areas:
- according to the respective product categories of the contract standards, the areas of chemicals and/or cosmetics production and/or production of cleaning agents;
- the raw materials used for the respective product categories;
- the content of EU legislation on the respective product categories required for certification, such as the Cosmetics Regulation, EU Eco-Regulation, Biocides Regulation, DIN standard for toys, etc;
- Manufacturing processes of the products within the scope of the contract standards;
- Audit experience and/or knowledge in the QM area, ideally14001:2015, or sufficient proof of competence;
- GMP guidelines and principles for the respective product categories of the contract standards.
The certification body shall ensure that the personnel deployed under this contract are fully familiar with the contractual standards and the test and award criteria as well as the certification process in order to be able to guarantee proper testing and certification. This also applies in the event that the certification body uses external inspection bodies. In this case, the aforementioned assurances also apply to the personnel of the inspection bodies.
Tasks and duties of the certification body
The certification body may also commission inspection bodies for the audits at the standard participant (in the sense of subcontracting in accordance with ISO 17065). The agreement to be concluded with the inspection body must be submitted to GfaW on request and must comply with the contents of the annex. In particular, the final responsibility for granting, maintaining, renewing, extending, suspending or withdrawing certification always remains with the certification body. The certification decision is made on the basis of the inspection body’s assessment reports.
The certification body conducts the examination to obtain the certificate once a year for each standard participant.
Non-compliance with the surveillance audits invalidates the certificate.
If there is a need for on-site inspections abroad (in particular in the case of production abroad), the certification body is entitled to commission an affiliated or external comparable inspection body in the country concerned to investigate the facts. The costs for this shall be borne by the standard participant.
The certification body must inform GfaW of all circumstances known to it which indicate or confirm that the standard participant does not comply with the respective contractual standard.
The certification body has stipulated in contracts with standard participants that a certificate will be withdrawn in the event of non-conformity with the standard.
Participation in meetings
In order to achieve good cooperation between GfaW and the certification body and inspection bodies, working group meetings are held once a year for standard participants, certification body, inspection body and GfaW. The certification body is expected to participate in these meetings.
The certification body also participates in the annual meeting between the GfaW, the certification body and the inspection body. The annual meeting is used by GfaW to assess the need for advice among the standard participants and which topics need to be discussed in the working group meetings. For this annual meeting, the certification body prepares information on deviations, complaints and anomalies relating to the audits carried out. This information must also include all feedback given by auditors.
Commissioning of inspection bodies
The commissioning of an inspection body requires a written agreement between the certification body and the inspection body. This agreement must regulate the following in particular:
- Impartiality and neutrality of the inspection body. There must be no conflicts of interest in relation to the audits, the audited products and certifications; in particular, the personnel of the inspection body must not be involved in any way in the certification decisions of the certification body or be involved in companies of the standard participants;
- The inspection body shall only deploy personnel for the audits who have the aforementioned expertise and experience and who are fully familiar with the contractual standards and the award and inspection criteria as well as the certification procedures and who fully comply with these as far as they affect the inspection body;
- The inspection body must submit to and comply with the guidelines and procedures of the certification body.
- The inspection body and the personnel employed by it shall be regularly inspected and monitored by the certification body for compliance with the aforementioned requirements.
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