Independent and Self Certification

I recently attended a meeting chaired by the ETI (Ethical Trading Initiative), arranged to discuss certification and supply chain transparency.  The transparency is an emotive and highly complex issue that I’ll not go into today. Certification however should be mentioned as this is fundamental in the world of green and ethical products. There is often confusion about what reporting is worthwhile and what isn’t.

Truth be told, certification bears some relevance to environmental products but is limited in its availability and far more widely used nowadays to determine the “ethical” status of products.

Certification should be broken down into 2 categories; independent and self assessment. Independent certification is undertaken, as the term suggests, by an independent expert. Self certification on the other hand is done by the supplier or manufacturer themselves. Clearly more credibility can be given to the results from an independent expert than by the supplier who stands to benefit from a positive report.

There are now plenty of certification bodies worldwide that can be used for this sort of reporting. Some specialize in certain market sectors and some in particular regions. If commissioning an audit enquire about the organisation undertaking the audit and which elements of the production is being audited, otherwise an audit may be undertaken that’s subsequently not recognised or even relevant.

Self certification does still have a place in the promotions market but should be used for answering the more peripheral questions not answered in the independent audit. Normally less crucial questions; how are the goods shipped for example and how are they packaged, country of origin and similar questions to which the answers are easy to quantify.

If you are giving away a product and claiming it’s ethical it’s best to have the certificate to hand before the promotion or you may get egg on your face when asked to prove what you’re claiming. Please remember to check whether the certificate, audit or report has been independently generated or is a self assessment.