[Charles Chew]

The fact that "Retail International Leaders Association" (RILA) and BRC are conducting joint efforts to push towards a RILA/BRC Standard Consumer Product Certification says a lot for future conformity requirements in this sector.

Regulatory directions through US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the 2006 European Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) - indicate a different playing field in times to come or perhaps, its already here. Change or get phased out!

[Simon]

Hi Charles,

Checking just now there are 392 sites (worldwide) listed on the BRC Directory who are certified to the BRC Consumer Products Standard. Compare that with food 13,876, packaging 1,702 and storage and distribution 355.

Considering the BRC Global Standard for Consumer Products is now on Issue 3 and was originally launched in 2003 it is a very poor show. Perhaps the alliance is driven by this and no doubt there’s plenty of potential. It’s a huge market and opportunity.

What do you know about the Retail International Leaders Association?

Regards,
Simon

[Charles Chew]

Hi Simon,

Apologies for being late in catching up on your response to this tread. Its like a "Hop-On-Hop-Off" tour for me right now. RILA is probably US version to BRC as in UK see http://www.rila.org/pages/default.aspx for more details.

I can understand the need to bring this section of the food chain up to speed with others but despite the potential, there appears a clear need for BRC to address the overlapping requirements otherwise ppl will really get tired of all these "paper chase" just for the sake of getting certified. Personally, I am only involved in areas where products are linked to food, pharmaceutical and hospital applications only i.e. rubber gloves.