From September 1 2010 the standard holder will only accept 100 percent natural fragrances as part of its attempts to evolve and strengthen the standard.
The plan to ban synthetic fragrances has been in the pipeline since the standard was launched two years ago, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs Daniel Fabricant explained.
“When we launched our standard two years ago we allowed synthetic fragrances, we were 95 percent natural and the idea was to get as many people in as possible. That for a large part happened and now we are evolving the standard,” he told CosmeticsDesign.com USA.
No synthetics, concretes or absolutes
Under the new rules, purely synthetic additives will no longer be acceptable to the standard, nor will concretes or absolutes.
Concretes and absolutes are extracts of natural raw materials that have been obtained using petrochemical-derived solvents, which the association is no longer accepting.
According to Fabricant, there are a growing number of ways to extract fragrances from natural raw materials that do not use petrochemical-derived solvents, and the overall reaction to the changes proposed by the association have been well received.
“People have been overwhelmingly positive about it. There is increasing interest in creating truly natural fragrance ingredients and we are trying to drive that,” he said.
Companies looking to get NPA natural certification will need to present the association with a list of the INCI name and chemical abstract number of each component, in addition to documentation stating the complete composition of each mixture.
However, the labeling requirements will not change and manufacturers are required only to list ‘fragrance’ on the label which NPA said can be accompanied by an asterisked footnote explaining that the fragrance is natural and acceptable.
Although these changes come into effect in September, products that are currently certified under the NPA standard will have to comply when their certification expires.