Product Certification
The product Certification is an attestation following assessment that; attributes, characteristics, quality, or status of goods, are in accordance with established standards. The scope covers foods and beverages, construction materials, cosmetics, paper based products and other industrial products.
Certified Products are given a Standardisation Mark (S-Mark), to be displayed on the product.
Benefit of Product Certification
• The Mark is a powerful marketing tool for all manufacturers especially exporters. This eliminates the need for products to be re-tested all the time;
• Displaying the mark gives a product real point-of-sale differentiation resulting in more sales and greater revenue;
• The Mark provides credibility when negotiating any contract especially government contracts as reflected in Rwandan regulation, exports and tender submissions;
• There is an improvement in complaints’ handling this cuts costs and increases customer satisfaction;
• The certification scheme results in consistent quality of products as it involves operating in a defined manner.
Product Certification Process
- Filling-in application form
- Certification fee payment
- To conduct audit of the production line and take samples
- Product sampling and testing
- Submission of audit report to client
- Closure of corrective actions (if any)
- Certification decision by independent committee
- Issuance of certificate of conformity
- Surveillance audit
- Market surveillance
- Re-certification(after 2 years)
Note that the time frame mainly depends on client’s readiness