NCP – Product Certification for Natural Products

Labeling of Environmental-Friendly Products

Many of our everyday items that are currently for sale contain plasticizers, microplastics and many other ingredients that are harmful to the environment and health. As a result, more and more people are looking for sustainable alternatives that respect and protect people and the environment. 

NCP (Nature Care Product Standard) provides a simple environmental label for everyday items. The label is designed for all non-food products made from renewable raw materials, such as detergents, cleaning products, hygiene products, care products for objects, toys, candles or fertilizers that are made from natural ingredients and do not unnecessarily harm the environment. 

This certification closes the regulatory gap in the ecological non-food sector, defining necessary standards for truly sustainable natural products for the first time. 

NCP-certified products meet the highest quality standards due to the thorough product testing: for example, that they are made of natural sourced materials, preferably in organic quality. With the label, you can advertise your natural products and offer consumers the opportunity to recognize and choose a sustainable product. 

For natural cosmetics, GfaW offers the NCS standard .

Here The standard and the accompanying INCI positive list can be downloaded HERE. The criteria in the standard are decisive for certification.
Further information can be found unter "Costs and Processes of Certification".„.

The Advantages of the NCP Label

The NCP quality label identifies natural products and sets strict criteria which can be found in the standard. This concentrated marketing, that is the concentration of the versatile requirements in one label, offers you, as producer the following advantages:

Regulatory Ccope of the NCP Standard: Raw Materials and their Manufacturing Processes

The NCP standard defines and specifies the qualities of raw materials for natural products; some raw materials are strictly prohibited, such as quaternary ammonium compounds or borium and its derivatives. 

For all further details, please refer to the NCP standard in the download area.

Costs and Procedure of the Certification

Costs of the Certification:

  • Kosten beim Standardgeber: je Produkt, Marke und Jahr: 105 Euro netto plus eine Einrichtungsgebühr im ersten Jahr.
  • for the certification process (certification body): billing by time (depending on the product type, the duration of the verification varies). Please ask the certification body for a quotation.

Procedure of the Certification: 

  1. contacting and contract closing with GfaW and the certification body 
  2. registration of the products at the certification body with the required documents that are necessary for an evaluation of the products (when registering a product for the first time, all data relevant for the certification will be collected)
  3. receipt of the documents you need to prove if your products are compliant with the standard
  4. verification of the products for their conformity with the standard by the certification body
  5. receipt of the certificate to use the label 
  6. subsequent annual on-site audits by the inspection body to verify and ensure the compliance with the criteria in your company  Einhaltung der Kriterien in Ihrem Unternehmen

Please note: all the information about the raw materials described in the criteria of the standard are a prerequisite for the evaluation of the products. The positive list of INCIs, which has been assessed as compliant by the certification body, is only considered as a guide in this regard. 

It is therefore not guaranteed that your raw materials comply with the standard only because they contain the INCIs listed on the positive list! 

Bei Abweichungen vom NCP-Standard wird, je nach Schweregrad, eine Frist zum Beheben derselben gewährt. Diese kann 4 bis 12 Monate betragen. Sind nach Ablauf der Frist die Abweichungen nicht behoben, besteht keine Konformität mehr mit dem NCP, das Zertifikat wird ungültig und die Produkte dürfen nicht mehr mit dem Siegel ausgelobt werden. Die vom NCP zugelassenen Zertifizierungsstellen sind für die EU-Öko-VO nach ISO 17065 akkreditiert und verfügen über langjährige Erfahrungen bei der Zertifizierung von ethisch orientierten Standards der Branche.

Currently approved certification body in product certifications:

Are you interested in a certification according to the NCP? Please feel free to contact us.

Already Aboard

The following companies got their products certified according to the NCP Nature Care Product Standard:

Things to Know about the NCP Standard

Food and unprocessed agricultural products can be labeled “organic”. Basis for this is the EU-Eco-Regulation. Anyhow, there is no comparable eco-regulation for natural products, that are produced and processed by agriculture or forestry but are not food.
Consumers expect and claim that natural products are also produced in natural processes as far as possible. 

In order to ensure this, the work group "Ecologcial Raw Materials" regularly exchanges information on all current topics relevant to sustainability. The expert group, currently consisting of GfaW, EcoControl and INCI-Experts, develops sustainable ecological requirements for raw materials used for natural or organic products through mutual transfer of knowledge and ideas.
A central role plays the replacement of petrochemical starting materials with plant-, sometimes animal- or fungus-derived substances. 

This replacement is absolutely pioneering especially performed by the producers of natural cosmetics, ecological detergents and cleaning agents as well as household articles. After all, the main aim is to guarantee or even improve the functionality of the products.

If the plant- or animal-based raw materials also come from organic farming, then a truly ecological non-food product is created!

If you are interested in attending the work group "Ecological Raw Materials", don´t hesitate to contact us.