BRC Global Standard for Agents and Brokers Achieves UKAS Accreditation

BRC Global Standards is pleased to announce that the first certification bodies have gained UKAS accreditation to the BRC Global Standard for Agents and Brokers Issue 1. The United Kingdom Accreditation Service is the National Accreditation Body (NAB) for the UK.  Its role is to determine that organisations providing conformity assessment services such as certification, testing, inspection and calibration services, are meeting a required standard of performance.

The BRC Global Standard for Agents and Brokers was published in January 2014, and covers the activities of businesses in the food and food packaging industries that buy, sell or facilitate the trade of products.  The Standard also covers the activities of certification bodies providing certification under the Standard.  Certification bodies must be approved by the BRC, and this entails accreditation from their NAB.

 David Brackston BRC Global Standards Technical Director, said: “The Standard was developed to allow the most professional agents and brokers to gain recognition for the systems they operate to manage product safety in their supply chains. The Accreditation of the first certification bodies provides a further level of recognition to the Standard and for the certified companies and adds confidence to their customers. Accreditation by UKAS of bodies certifying to this Standard provides the market place with assurance over the consistency of certification delivered, which is impartial, accurate and consistent in its performance.”

 Paul Stennett, CEO of UKAS said:  “Congratulations to BRC and the pilot certification bodies on achieving accreditation for the new Global Standard for Agents and Brokers.  Organisations certificated to the new BRC Standard by certification bodies accredited by UKAS will be able to demonstrate that they are meeting the highest operational standards within the food and food packaging industries.  In turn, this will give both consumers and food industry professionals the necessary confidence in the quality and safety of the products they are purchasing.”

 The BRC Global Standard for Agents & Brokers Issue 1 is available on BRC Participate, along with additional supporting publications. Recently launched, BRC Participate offers immediate access to all documents relevant to a particular Standard, linking them clause by clause. Printed copies and PDF downloads are also available for purchase from the BRC Bookshop.

 BRC Global Standards publish a series of Standards that cover Food Safety, Packaging and Packaging Materials, Storage and Distribution, Consumer Products and now Agents and Brokers. The Standards guarantee the standardisation of quality, safety and operational criteria and ensure that manufactures fulfill their legal obligations and provide protection for the end consumer. BRC Global Standards are now often a fundamental requirement of leading retailers who use them as part of their brand protection processes.