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Third-party laboratories in China

Find here Daxue Talks episode 58. In this interview, Mathieu Chavant discusses the role of third-party laboratories in China as well as what needs to be checked on a certificate before ordering a product.

Full transcript below:

What needs to be checked on a certificate before ordering a product?

So first of all, it depends on what kind of body you are, if you are working for a manufacturer, a supplier, an agent, a sourcing company, a broker, or anything else. You will need to receive the certificate and depending on the product, the certificate will not be the same. So before answering your question I’m just going to explain a little bit what is a certificate. A certificate is a piece of paper officially issued by a laboratory; an external laboratory that helps to prove the product complies with the regulation where the product is imported. So, in the case of the European market, you will receive a piece of paper, and depending on the type of product, you will have a different type of certificate. So generally speaking, the best advice for you is first to check who issued the certificate. So, it can be an external laboratory, usually is the case and there is a simple way – you can go on their website and check if it exists because I can tell you, even yesterday I received confirmation from a sourcing company that about 80% of the certificates are fake, and the first way is because the company that issued the certificate does not exist. So, you can go online on Google, Baidu and you can just type the name of the company and you see if it exists. Then, usually, we have a way to check online with the database, you can enter the number of the certificate that is usually on top and you can check if it’s authentic. Then, if they don’t have this kind of database, you can contact them directly for them to say if this certificate is authentic or not.

What is a third-party laboratory and what is its main purpose?

Yes, good question. The third-party laboratory or external laboratory is actually what is in between, so you have the buyer on one side and you have the producer or manufacturer on the other side. And the third-party laboratory is what is in the middle. So, their purpose all around the world for more than 100 years for the main one is to ensure that the service provides a safer world for everyone. So, what does it mean to a safer world? It means – at work. At home or during transportation to be able to make sure that everything that is used in this situation is safe. So it can be a car to make sure the car is safe to use and is not going to break your neck if you have an accident, or for a product toaster, to make sure when you plug the toaster is not going to electrify yourself, or at work, for instance, you have to work with the medical environment, that you are protected.

Any questions? We will find an expert to answer them. Drop your questions in the comments or send us an email – dx@daxueconsulting.com.