Current Date: Tuesday, 19th March 2024 | Article updated on Thursday, 12th July 2018

Seals of approval for cosmetic products

Seals of approval for vegan, cruelty-free, halal and natural cosmetic products

Seals of approval for cosmetic products are important – they show us at first glance that a product (e.g. vegan nail polishes) has a specific property. They mark a product and show us for example whether it is a vegetarian or vegan product. The seals of approval help us to recognize the specific property of a product and save us time to read through the many ingredients on the packaging. To this comes the fact that no one really knows all the ingredients and know what is behind all these names.

But what do all the seals of approval say? The symbol/look of a seal of approval does not always indicate what it stands for. Here you will find some seals of approval for cosmetic products described. They are divided into different categories. In addition, you will find a link to each seal of approval, which will take you to the website of the respective institute. There you can get a detailed insight about the institute and its seal of approval. This means you are prepared for your next cosmetic purchase and know which seals of approval stand for which properties.

Content: List of seals of approval

Seals of approval for vegan products

Below you will find seals of approval for vegan products. These are on the packaging of products which are free of animal components as well as animal products. Animal components are for example guanine (fish scales), which is often found in nail polishes, because it’s used as a shimmering effect, or keratin (horn substance) which is used in many shampoos to make the hair stronger. Animal products are for example ghee (clarified butterfat) which can be found in some creams, or silk (from the silkworm) which is sometimes also used in hair and skin care products. Learn which seals of approval there are for vegan products, to which organisations they belong and for which further properties they stand.

Vegan flower

The vegan flower is the seal of approval from the Vegan Society. The Vegan Society is an institute in Great Britain which emerged from the Vegetarian Society. It was founded in 1944 by Donald Watson, one of the first vegans. The reason for this was that he and many other members of the Vegetarian Society saw a difference between vegetarians who didn’t eat meat and vegetarians who didn’t eat meat, eggs and dairy products. Thereupon Donald Watson invented the term vegan (derived from the word “vegetarian”) and founded the Vegan Society.

If a product have the seal of approval from the Vegan Society, it’s a vegan product that has not been tested on animals. Neither animal components (such as gelatine) nor animal products (such as honey) are contained in products that have been stamped with the vegan flower. The seal of approval also guarantees that no animal experiments were carried out by third parties which are involved in the production process. The seal of approval is only awarded by the Vegan Society to a product if it is proven that the product, ingredients and production process are vegan and cruelty-free. Nor may animal experiments have been commissioned by the manufacturer to third parties. To ensuring a better control, a product may only have the seal of approval for one year and the manufacturer must be applied each year a new one.

The following link leads you to the website of the Vegan Society: https://www.vegansociety.com/

V-Label

The V-Label is a seal of approval that is used internationally. It’s the seal of approval of the European Vegetarian Union, which takes care to unite the cooperation of the different national vegetarian and vegan organisations. Therefore, the seal of approval is not awarded directly by the European Vegetarian Union, but by the country-specific associations. In Germany, for example, the V-Label is awarded by the vegetarian association Proveg International (formerly called Vebu).

The V-Label stands for vegetarian/vegan and cruelty-free products. There are two versions of the V-Label to distinguish vegetarian and vegan products. In both versions, the words vegetarian and vegan are written out below the logo to ensure immediate differentiation. In addition, a product which have the V-Label must not contain any genetically modified ingredients.

The following link leads you to the website of the V-Label: https://www.v-label.eu/

Vegan-Label

The Vegan-Label is a seal of approval, which is awarded by the Vegane Gesellschaft Deutschland e. V. and which they created together with the Vegan Society of Japan. The aim of this cooperation was to create a seal of approval that can also be used internationally. It is often the case that certain symbols can be well understood in some countries but do not work in others.

The seal of approval stands for vegan and cruelty-free products. A product gets only the Vegan-Label if the product itself is free of animal components (e.g. carmine) and animal products (e.g. milk) and only if its packaging is also free of animal components and products. In addition, the production, processing and packaging process must be carried out in rooms where only vegan food is produced. This is the only way to avoid contamination (e.g. if a product could contain traces of other ingredients because other products are also processed on the same production line). The products with this seal of approval must not be tested on animals, but the individual ingredients of the product must also not have been tested on animals. Another requirement for the acquisition of the Vegan-Label is that no genetic engineering may have been used.

The following link leads you to the website of the Vegane Gesellschaft Deutschland e. V.: http://www.vegane.org/

Seals of approval for cruelty-free products

In the following paragraphs you will find seals of approval for cruelty-free products. These seals of approval can be found on the packaging of products that are not tested on animals. This means that neither the end products nor the individual ingredients of the end products have been tested on animals. Where a manufacturer has affixed a seals of approval for cruelty-free products to its products, this manufacturer also not commission any animal tests to third parties. In addition, manufacturers wishing to obtain a seal of approval for cruelty-free products are not allowed to export their products to countries where animal testing is required by law. Learn which seals of approval there are for cruelty-free products, to which organisations they belong and for which further properties they stand.

Bunny with protecting hand

The bunny with protecting hand is a seal of approval, which has been a registered trademark since 1979. The seal of approval was developed by the Deutscher Tierschutzbund in cooperation with the IHTN (Internationaler Herstellerverband für tierschutzgeprüfte Naturkosmetik, Kosmetik und Naturwaren e. V.). It is awarded by the IHTN and the requirements for the acquisition of the seal of approval correspond to the standards of the Deutscher Tierschutzbund.

If a product carries the bunny with protecting hand, then the end product and its ingredients are free of animal testing. Neither the manufacturer conducts animal testing nor the group to which the manufacturer belongs conducts animal testing. In addition, the manufacturer does not commission any animal experiments to third parties. It is also prohibited for the manufacturer to export his products to countries where animal testing is required by law.

The following link leads you to the website of the IHTN (Internationaler Herstellerverband für tierschutzgeprüfte Naturkosmetik, Kosmetik und Naturwaren e. V.): http://www.ihtn.de/

PETA cruelty-free

The PETA cruelty-free seal of approval is awarded by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The seal of approval is available in two different versions. On the one hand, the original animal friendly variant with the term cruelty-free (“free from animal cruelty”). Secondly, the animal friendly and vegan variant with the term cruelty-free and vegan, in order to label cruelty-free products that are also vegan.

To obtain the PETA cruelty-free seal of approval, manufacturers must fulfil a wide variety of requirements. Manufacturers must not have tested their end products on animals and the ingredients must not have been tested by animal experiments. They may not engage third parties to carry out animal experiments and this is also prohibited for their suppliers. Moreover, manufacturers whose products carry the PETA cruelty-free seal of approval are not permitted to export their products to countries where animal experiments are required by law. For example, if a manufacturer exports its products to such countries a few years later after obtaining the seal of approval, it can be assumed that its products are no longer free of animal testing. In this case, of course, the seal of approval will be removed from such manufacturers. To obtain the seal of approval, manufacturers must complete a questionnaire and sign a declaration of assurance, with this they confirm that they fulfil all the requirements named above. After PETA has checked everything, the PETA cruelty-free seal of approval is recognised by the manufacturers.

The following link leads you to the website of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals): https://www.peta.org/living/personal-care-fashion/beauty-without-bunnies/

Leaping Bunny

The Leaping Bunny seal of approval was developed by the CCIC (Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics). The CCIC is a network consisting of eight animal rights group from different countries and was established in 1996. Before the Leaping Bunny seal was introduced, many manufacturers developed their own logos and applied them to their products; with this they declare their products as free of animal testing. But there was no concrete definition of what cruelty-free means, everyone assumed their own sense of meaning. The aim of the CCIC was therefore to develop a seal of approval that can be understood and used internationally. They have achieved this goal: over the years they have won more and more supporters for themselves, so that the seal of approval has gained international recognition.

Manufacturers who are allowed to imprint the Leaping Bunny seal of approval on their products do not carry out animal experiments themselves, do not commission third parties to carry out animal experiments, nor are they otherwise involved in the suffering of animals. Neither the end products nor the ingredients which are used have been tested on animals. For the acquisition of the seal of approval no exports are permitted into countries, which prescribe legally that products must have been tested on animals. Manufacturers are inspected at irregular intervals after the Leaping Bunny seal has been acquired and it is checked whether the requirements for the Leaping Bunny seal of approval are still guaranteed.

The following link leads you to the website of the Leaping Bunny Program: http://www.leapingbunny.org/

Seals of approval for halal products

Halal seals of approval mark products that are considered as halal (allowed). These products do not contain alcohol, animal substances (for example porcine gelatine) or chemical substances (e.g. formaldehyde, toluene, camphor). In addition, you can be assured that products with a seal of approval for halal products didn’t come into contact with animal substances during any processing step. Products advertised as halal were not produced in factories where animal products are processed. The following section describes a halal seal of approval. Described is only one seal of approval, because there is no consistently halal certification regulated. There are many different seals of approval for halal products worldwide, which in most cases are only awarded regionally or nationally. For this reason, we have only mentioned one example of seals of approval for halal products at this point.

HCA Halal Certified

The HCA Halal Certified seal of approval is awarded by the certification body HCA (Halal Certified Association). The Halal Certified Association is a halal certifier from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (England, Manchester). Its seal of approval is a prestigious halal seal of approval which is valid in Europe. If a company wishes to affix the HCA Halal Certified seal of approval on one of its products, the company must send the product with its list of ingredients to the HCA and disclose all its processing steps.

The HCA first checks all ingredients of this product. Care must be taken that it does not contain any animal substances (such as porcine gelatine), alcohol or chemical substances (e.g. formaldehyde, toluene, camphor, etc.) which could damage the body in any way. In addition, all processing steps are checked. The product must never have come into contact with animal substances. This means that no products which containing animal substances may have been manufactured in the same factory. For this reason, the products bearing the HCA Halal Certified seal of approval, are not only halal but also vegan.

The following link leads you to the website of the HCA (Halal Certified Association): http://www.halalcertified.org.uk/index.php?route=common/home

Note: All information without guarantee for completeness and correctness. No liability can be assumed for any damage that may occur.

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