The ISO 16128 Guideline has created a lot of discussion among the employees. Beyond the criticism, Roberto Gorni, of the normative technical area of ​​Cosmetica Italia, outlines its potential for use for the companies.

The opportunity for the companies

Roberto Gorni

“The industry is trying to figure out how to use the Guideline. According to Cosmetica Italia, this is an instrument of great interest. We therefore invite all companies, even those already certified with private standards, and also the certification bodies, to review and study their strategic potential. Certainly as a technical tool in the context of supply chain relationships, starting from raw material suppliers, it can simplify the work of connoting the ingredients and the finished product. It can be also used to provide that supporting evidence to support certain product claims by those who decide not to follow the path of private certifications. In fact, it is reasonable to expect that a significant part of that 90% of non-certified products that is proposed on the green market will have to adapt to this standard, with the advantage of being able to rely on the natural or biological characterization of the product in a more robust, precisely by virtue of compliance with ISO 16128, thus being able to more easily demonstrate to the authority the correctness of its approach. Opportunities should not be lacking even for those who are certified according to the existing private regulations, because they will be able to boast additional criteria and meet specific product philosophies of interest to the consumer, and this is the reason why certification bodies could also start take it into consideration”.

Product communication

Neither ISO 16128 nor this document addresses product communication (e.g. claims and labelling), human safety, environmental safety, socio-economic considerations (e.g. fair trade), characteristics of packaging materials or regulatory requirements applicable for cosmetics.
“So far – said Gorni – ISO 16128 is not directly connected to communication to the consumer. The companies have to understand how to tell the compliance to the Consumer Guideline. They have to do so in respect of the Regulation 655/2013, because the standard, as sayd, is not addressed for this purpose. Internationally, the Japanese association has prepared a voluntary guide for the communication of naturalness and biologicity according to the ISO standard. Therefore, it is not excluded that in the future aspects of communication to the consumer can take a significant interest and lead to the production of specific documents. It will be up to companies to direct future developments according to the importance they will give to this tool, which, beyond the objective initial difficulties of knowledge, should represent a great opportunity for companies”.