Guide to successful NCS certification

If you are considering having your products certified according to the NCS standard, you will have to deal with at least 2 institutions.

Firstly with us - the standard and label holder - and secondly with the certification body.

We keep the standard and the positive list up to date, take care of the label's trademark rights and manage the use of the label. The certification body checks your products for conformity with our NCS standard.

Please contact us - via this letter - and the certification bodies for information on the possible costs and procedures for certification

EcoControl (Contact person Ms. Holtz)

or

Audit company(Contact person Ms. Bailer)

If your products have not yet been registered, please contact your competent authority (veterinary office or food control authority) to find out what is required for you to be allowed to place your products on the market.

If you have your products manufactured in a country other than Germany but would also like to sell them in Germany, we recommend that you contact Pfeiffer Consulting for advice on the legal requirements. The costs of the safety analyses must be integrated into your pricing, as well as the costs for certification and label fees.

Please read the standard in detail. The current version of the standard can be found here.

Raw materials

At this point, it is important that all raw materials used come from natural source materials and must be produced exclusively according to the processes listed in the standard. The auxiliary materials used to produce the raw material must also comply with the standard. If you want to advertise your product as organic, you need to know the percentages in the raw materials.

The end product may be labeled as "organic cosmetics" if at least 95% of all ingredients of agricultural origin come from controlled organic cultivation (kbA).

!Attention: Some raw materials must come from organic farming as long as they are used as natural substances - i.e. not chemically modified. These are listed in the Standard 2 document: NCS instructions for new customers Version: 1.13: Sunflower oil, olive oil, soybean oil, shea butter (also available from wild collection), coconut oil, jojoba oil.

!Attention: Since August 2020 no nanomaterials are allowed in NCS products. If you want to produce sun care products, please contact us to get the recommendation of a raw material that is non-nano and relatively low whitening.

The INCI polylactic acid has also not been permitted for NCS products since August 2020. This INCI is a solid insoluble polymer. PLA behaves like bioplastics in the environment and is therefore not compatible with natural cosmetics.

Packaging

Since 01.01.2023, the NCS standard has included criteria for packaging. These apply to packaging ordered from 01.01.2024. The criteria are supplemented by a list of materials. Please familiarize yourself with the requirements. Your documented decision on how you arrived at the selected packaging serves as proof of the criteria. Auditors will check your decision-making process during the audit. Please provide evidence of compliant materials with the specification. Please ensure that the material is clearly stated in the specification.

Own checklist

We recommend creating a small checklist for each raw material:

• Are the starting materials of the raw material natural (no petrochemical starting materials and additives permitted, except for preservatives according to the positive list)?
• Are the processes, chemical or physical, used to produce the raw material listed in the standard?
• Are the auxiliary materials used in the production of the raw material compliant with the standard?
• Are the raw materials free from genetically modified organisms?
• Is a GMO-free declaration available, if necessary also for auxiliary substances such as fermentation organisms?

Packaging:

• Is the decision for packaging based on the criteria of avoidance, reduction, reuse, recyclability and emptying?
• Does the material correspond to the recommended or tolerated materials according to the material list? If you would like to offer a vegan product, it must not contain any ingredients of animal origin.

For vegan claims:

• If an organic claim is intended:
• Are the raw materials from controlled organic cultivation (kbA)?
• Is there a corresponding organic certificate?

If all points can be answered with "yes", step 3 follows.

Once your products have been developed and you are sure that all raw materials comply with the standard, you conclude the certification contract with the certification body and the label usage contract with us.

Our contract contains a registration file in Excel format, which you should complete and return to us together with the signed contract.

Important: please do not forget to enter the countries in which your products are to be marketed.

The certification body will either send you access to their database or provide you with your own Excel spreadsheet, which you can use to register your products for testing. In this table, the raw materials must be specified and broken down into INCIs. If you would like an organic claim, please also enter the percentage of organic raw materials. If you choose a vegan claim, please also indicate this when registering.

Please attach all documents relating to the raw materials to this notification table. The documents should contain the following information for each raw material:

1. Source material of the raw material
2. Processes, chemical or physical, used to produce the raw material
3. Auxiliary materials in the production of the raw material
4. GMO-free declaration, if necessary also for auxiliary substances such as fermentation organisms
5. Organic certificates, if applicable, for the mandatory organic substances or if an organic claim is desired
6. If applicable, vegan declaration - if vegan claim is desired.

If all of this information is available to the certification body and complies with the standard, nothing should stand in the way of your certificate.

After receiving the certificate, the label will be sent to you digitally. You can use it to design your label. We have drawn up a guideline for this, which you will receive with the label.

Please ensure that you only use the label corresponding to the certification level for which you have registered your products. Using the organic cosmetics label "NCS Organic Quality" for products with the "Natural Cosmetics" level, for example, is not permitted. Please note that you must mention the use of preservatives on the label. The requirements for this are explained in chapter 2.3.1 "Nature-identical preservatives".

If you have used raw materials from organic farming in your product and would like to indicate this on the label, you can mark these raw materials with an asterisk* and explain below on the label what the asterisk stands for. It is important that you state either on the label or on your website how high the proportion of organic raw materials is in relation to the proportion of raw materials that can be organic. This usually requires an explanation. Take the opportunity to inform consumers about the composition of your product and why some raw materials cannot be organic (e.g. surfactants).

You now have a successful process behind you and can communicate the special nature of your products to the outside world. The label helps you to identify your products not only on the label, but also on your website, in your advertisements and in all other communication channels. Use the condensed statement to make your products stand out.

Since 2024, all certified products have been published on our website. After signing the contract, you will receive a log-in and can design the appearance of your products yourself.

You have received the certificate on the basis of the documents submitted. You are still responsible for ensuring that the products are manufactured in accordance with the standard. Part of the certification is the on-site audit, which checks whether the products are manufactured in accordance with the standard.

An auditor from the certification body will contact you or your contract manufacturer at the beginning of the year to arrange an appointment. Please allow some preparation time for this appointment. The following should generally be prepared (please also note the audit announcement from the certification body):

• List of all products bearing the symbol => Customer list, parts list, advertising material, price catalogs, etc.
• Viewing the labels
• Batch traceability of the last production run (retained samples of the products as they leave the company: Bulk goods, semi-finished goods or finished goods)
• Documents on the raw materials used - see specially created checklist in steps 2 and 3
• Packaging documentation (decision documentation and material specification)
• Insight into the merchandise management system
• Possibility to set up a plant tour and gain insight into basic aspects of cosmetics GMP or other management systems

Please ensure that there is a welcoming atmosphere during the audit. Auditors are often on the road for days, have sometimes not slept as well as at home and are very happy when they are treated as welcome guests.

Auditors need at least:

• A warm or temperature-controlled workplace where you can set up your laptop
• Space for storing viewed documents
• Something to drink and eat

A pleasant atmosphere during the audit makes work easier for both sides. Although the audit is an examination, auditors are not representatives of the authorities or even the police. Therefore, no unnecessary excitement. You can make good use of the audit by looking at your manufacturing processes together with the auditor and finding out whether you can still improve on certain points. Auditors are also well informed about the industry and have undergone numerous training courses, so you can use the annual audit as an opportunity to talk to experts.