Dear Slab,
Which GFSI-approved certification your company wants to go for, really depends on your customers.
In general:
- German, Italian and French retailers request for IFS;
- Britisch retailers request BRC;
- Dutch and Belgium accept both ot either;
However I have seen deviations from this list and sometimes German retailers accept BRC and sometimes Britisch retailers accept IFS.
It is best to ask your largest/most important customers, if they have preference for one or the other and after that decide which GFSI approved certificate to go for.
If you are selling through a agent or broker that is IFS certificate --> you should be certificated against IFS (this is a requirement of IFS Broker)
By the way, there should be CBs that are profiding IFS certification in the UK.
I think it is a strange attitude to say that this is not certificated by the CB, because this is not recognised by the retailers in UK. Probably this CB does not have a qualified IFS auditor (there is a lack of IFS auditors) or this CB, situated in UK, do not want to spend money to keep auditors qualified for this standard, because they have not enough customers wich request for this standard.
Edited by Madam A. D-tor, 24 February 2014 - 08:18 AM.