Transferring BRC Certification from one business to another
Our third party manufacturer recently had their first BRC audit - passed with flying colours but have now due to cash issues decided to go administration.
We are looking to take over the site under a new business name, are we able to transfer the current BRC to the new name or do we have to go through the pain all over again?
Any advice greatly received
Since the company already has a BRC cert in place, you can take them over, change the name and your CB will come out and do an audit (not a full blown cert audit) - obviously you will need to change out all named documents (make it all your own) prior to the in-line audit, but this should be fairly easy to do.
Before you ink the deal, both current principals and new principals should have a call with the CB to ensure a smooth transition.
Hi Cakeguy,
You need to contact your certification body to discuss the change of ownership.
From BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 9, 6 General protocol – post audit 6.1 Communication with certification bodies:
In the event that any circumstances change within the site that may affect the validity of continuing certification, the site shall immediately notify the certification body. Circumstances may include:
• ….. etc.
• change of ownership (see glossary)
The certification body in turn shall take appropriate steps to assess the situation and any implications for the certification, and shall take appropriate action. Information shall be provided to the certification body by the site on request so that an assessment can be made as to the effect on the validity of the current certificate.
The certification body may, as appropriate:
• confirm the validity of the certificate is not affected
• suspend certification pending further investigation
• require further details of the corrective action, root cause analysis and preventive action plan implemented by the site
• undertake a site visit to verify the control of processes and confirm continued certification
• withdraw certification
• issue a new certificate with the new owner’s details.
Kind regards,
Tony