BRC tightens standard

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is to clamp down on possible fraudulent and inadequate auditing of its widely used standards by drawing up contracts with approved certification bodies.

BRC also plans to levy a £75 per certification evaluation fee on suppliers - via certifiers - to raise funds to improve its standards work, said BRC's head of technical services Kevin Swoffer.

"We are still working with quills and ink by candlelight," he said. The standards operation had less than two staff and its only revenue was from selling standards at £90 a time. The number of standards being sold was, he believed, far lower than justified by the number of audits carried out.

More than 6,000 suppliers are audited worldwide to BRC standards by about 115 certifiers.

The BRC's plans include a secure electronic validation scheme, now being developed by a US firm, for certificates. For the first time there would also be a global database of BRC certified suppliers which could be accessed by retail buyers, said Swoffer. Suppliers would also be able to use the BRC logo and enjoy discounts on training and publications, he said.

The BRC lagged behind similar bodies in drawing up contracts with certification companies, admitted Swoffer, but the new contracts would give it "adequate control" over use of its standards.

Importantly, contracts could mean that suppliers were subjected to fewer audits. One big retailer - believed to be Tesco - was likely to stop issuing its own certificates, said Swoffer.

The proposal is out for consultation until May 15 and BRC plans to publish a list of contracted certifiers on July 17.

Meanwhile, Swoffer will be introducing the BRC standards to 900 Australian suppliers to one of the country's main retailers, Coles Myer, this month.