BRC GLOBAL STANDARDS

Welcome to BRC Global Standards

BRC Global Standards is a leading safety and quality certification programme, used by over
23,000 certificated suppliers in 123 countries, with certification issued through a worldwide
network of accredited certification bodies.

The Standards guarantee the standardisation of quality, safety and operational criteria and
ensure that manufacturers fulfil their legal obligations and provide protection for the end
consumer. BRC Global Standards are now often a fundamental requirement of leading
retailers.

BRC Global Standards help your suppliers embed reliable processes, systems and – crucially –
behaviours. So almost any organisation involved in the production of goods will see the
benefits of being certificated against BRC Global Standards, which have been designed to help
embed quality processes, policies and procedures and to help reduce risks to your customers.

About the BRC Global Standards

Developed by retailers and driven by retailers, BRC Global Standards is a market leading global
brand that helps build confidence in the food safety industry.

Our Standards for Food, Packaging, Storage & Distribution and Consumer Products set the
standard for good manufacturing practice, and help provide assurance to your customers that
your products are safe.

The Standards began in 1998 when the British Retail Consortium (BRC), in response to industry
needs, developed the BRC Food Technical Standard.

This Food Standard was used to evaluate manufacturers of retailers’ own brand food products.
And it was designed to help retailers and brand owners produce food products safely and of
consistent quality, which would help with a 'due diligence' defence, should they be subject to a
prosecution by the enforcement authorities. (Under EU food law, retailers and brand owners
have a legal responsibility for their brands.)

Success and worldwide use

Very quickly, this Standard became invaluable to other organisations in the sector, not just in
the UK but across the world. It was, and still, is regarded as the benchmark for best practice in
the food industry. And it’s this benchmark and its worldwide use that’s seen the Global
Standard used, not just to assess retailer suppliers, but as a framework by which many
companies base their supplier assessment programs and manufacture of branded products.

The introduction of further Standards

Following the success and widespread use of what is now the BRC Food Safety Standard, BRC
published the first issue of the Packaging Standard in 2002, followed by the Consumer
Products Standard in 2003, and finally the Storage and Distribution Standard in 2006. Each of
our Standards is regularly reviewed, revised and updated at least every three years after
extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders.

Achievable and cost effective

Developed by industry experts and other leading stakeholders, the BRC Global Standards are
rigorous and detailed, yet easy for your supplier to understand – whether they’re an
established global supplier or based in an emerging market. The Standards take a common
sense, risk-based approach, and provide a clear step-by-step path towards certification.
There’s also a comprehensive support package to get your suppliers started.

And because there’s a straightforward certification process it means there are no hidden costs.
If your supplier is prepared and confident about achieving certification, the only cost will be
that of the audit. That will be charged at the local rate too.

The BRC Global Standards are currently available in 15 languages with additional translations
being developed to further improve your suppliers’ understanding and consistency.
Recognition of the BRC Global Standards by your suppliers will also reduce the need for
expensive duplicate audits.

Demonstrating best practice

Your suppliers need to continuously demonstrate how they’re consistently delivering on
quality. BRC Global Standards offers a set of tools to enable them do this.

The Standards lay out good practice for the manufacture of safe and legal products and the
requirements and systems that underpin them. They also help build a company-wide culture
that ensures the company meets its obligations to produce safe and legal products.

Flexible training
Our global training infrastructure ensures your suppliers are well informed about how to
implement the Standard, prepare for their audit and achieve certification. Over 100 Approved
Training Providers (ATPs) throughout the world offer accredited training courses in local
languages. A highly skilled and multi-lingual training team can provide cost effective and
flexible in-house training that’s tailored to the needs of your supplier.

Highly trained auditors worldwide

All our audits are carried out by a global network of highly trained certification bodies and
training providers. We have exceptionally high standards when it comes to the competence,
qualifications and experience of our auditors, and they’re closely monitored too. This ensures
the audit standards are stringently maintained. Audit reports are standardised too so there’s
consistency worldwide.

Ongoing technical support

We have an established, highly experienced BRC Technical team that provides support and
leadership and is available to answer any technical questions. We also have expert
International Technical Committees to ensure the ongoing development of the Standards
through a process of collaboration and continuous improvement.
If any of your suppliers or customers has any issues, there’s an established and transparent
complaints procedure that ensures matters are investigated thoroughly and vigorously
followed up.

We work with a wide range of stakeholders to develop Global Standards including retailers,
Certification Bodies, food manufactures and food services companies. BRC Global Standards
help organisations maximise safety management performance, be more efficient, enable
greater profitability, as well as supporting ideas and innovation.

We believe that improving manufacturing standards matters. And we see huge potential for
BRC Global Standards to power innovation, growth and strengthen safety and legality
outcomes.

If you want to encourage your supply chain to gain BRC certification to ensure manufacturing
standards improve, the BRC can provide a range of services to help with managing the process
including:

 Meetings to discuss the process objectives and pathway to implementation

 Information packs for your suppliers to assist in gaining certification
 Access to the BRC Directory to monitor and review customer sites
 Joint branding of BRC communication material