SGS · Intertek · TÜV Rheinland · TÜV SÜD · Bureau Veritas
Physical · chemical · thermal · electrical · optical
5-15 working days depending on test suite
Buyer-specific certification format
US · UK · EU · GCC · Australia · Japan
Root-cause + retest workflow
The five test categories
Product testing splits into five functional categories. Every buyer programme has a distinct test-suite requirement built from these categories — driven by product type, destination market and buyer-specific retail requirements.
Destination-market compliance frameworks
USA
FDA 21 CFR Parts 175 and 177 for food-contact SKUs (migration testing). California Prop-65 for consumer products sold in California (heavy metals, phthalates, listed chemicals). CPSIA (16 CFR Part 1500 series) for children's-facing products. FCC declarations for electronics-adjacent. FTC country-of-origin labelling. UL certification for electrical products.
UK / EU
CE marking (UKCA for UK post-Brexit) on applicable product categories — children's product, electrical, PPE, machinery. REACH SVHC declarations on every SKU. EU 1935/2004 (food-contact framework regulation). EU 10/2011 (polymer food-contact). LFGB (Germany-specific food-contact, stricter than EU baseline). Additional country-specific: France's AGEC anti-waste law, Germany's Verpackungsgesetz packaging register, UK's Furniture and Furnishings Fire Safety Regulations.
GCC / Middle East
GSO (Gulf Standardisation Organisation) harmonised technical regulations across all six GCC states. SASO / SABER for KSA. ESMA / G-Mark for UAE. IECEE CB scheme for electrical products. Halal certification supported on food-contact SKUs where retailer requires. Arabic-language labelling per GSO 2114.
Australia / New Zealand
AS/NZS product safety standards (harmonised across Australia and NZ). ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) mandatory-safety-standards. NZ Fair Trading Act labelling. MPI (NZ Ministry for Primary Industries) and DAWE (Australian Department of Agriculture) biosecurity requirements on wood, wicker and plant-fibre. AS/NZS 1957 textile care-labelling.
Lab coordination — what we handle
The value of coordinated lab testing over direct lab engagement is workflow efficiency. When a buyer engages a lab directly, they typically spend 40-60% of the engagement time on paperwork: sample selection protocols, sample shipping logistics, chain-of-custody documentation, invoice reconciliation, report interpretation. Our lab coordination handles all of that on the buyer's behalf.
- Sample selection — statistical sampling per the applicable standard (e.g. 8 samples per SKU for ISTA-3A, 3 samples for chemical migration).
- Sample shipping — factory-to-lab chain-of-custody documentation, temperature-controlled if required.
- Test-suite specification — matching the buyer's destination-market compliance requirement against the applicable lab test protocol.
- Report interpretation — translating pass/fail results into buyer-actionable format.
- Failure remediation — root-cause analysis + retest workflow when initial results fail.
- Certificate storage — buyer-accessible archive of all test reports, indexed by SKU / PO / batch.
Failure remediation workflow
Roughly 8-12% of first-run lab tests fail — most commonly on chemical migration (food-contact), colour-fastness (textile), and photometric performance (lighting). Failure is not a disaster; it's a data point that triggers a documented remediation workflow.
Root-cause analysis first: is the failure a raw material issue (wrong alloy, wrong dye, wrong solvent), a process issue (temperature, timing, contamination), or a specification issue (the buyer's spec was actually stricter than the standard tested against)? Remediation options: switch raw material supplier, adjust process parameters, tighten in-process QC, or re-negotiate the buyer specification. Retest is commissioned after remediation. Total cycle time on remediation: typically 2-4 weeks.
Frequently asked
ProductTesting&Compliance—commonquestions.
Which labs do you work with?
SGS India, Intertek India, TÜV Rheinland India, TÜV SÜD India and Bureau Veritas India — all accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and recognised by major destination-market regulators. Buyers with existing lab relationships (e.g. specific auditor at a specific lab) can nominate — we integrate that lab into our workflow.
How long does lab testing take?
5-15 working days depending on test suite. Physical safety tests (drop, stability, sharp edges) 5-7 days. Chemical migration 10-14 days (requires 10-day migration cycle). Photometric lighting tests (LM-79) 7-10 days. Full test-suite programmes bundled together 12-15 days.
How much does third-party testing cost?
Highly variable by test suite. Simple physical safety (children's product EN 71): $400-800 per SKU. Chemical migration (food-contact FDA + LFGB): $600-1,200 per SKU. Full lighting compliance (LM-79 + IEC 60598 + CE / UL): $1,500-3,500 per SKU. Buyers can bundle tests across multiple SKUs for discount.
Who owns the test reports?
The buyer commissioning the test owns the report and holds the certification. Reports are issued to the buyer under our lab-coordination account and archived in the buyer-accessible document repository. Reports are not shared with other buyers even if the same factory produces similar SKUs for them.
What happens if the product fails testing?
Root-cause investigation → remediation plan → retest. Typical cycle: 2-4 weeks from failure to passing retest. Most common failure modes: chemical migration, colour-fastness, photometric performance. Failures are documented in the buyer's PO file to inform future spec-writing.
Do you handle CE / UKCA / SASO / G-Mark markings themselves?
Yes — we handle the entire Declaration of Conformity (DoC) file that authorises CE / UKCA marking, and coordinate the Notified Body relationship if independent certification is required. For SASO / G-Mark (GCC), we run the SABER (KSA) and ESMA (UAE) registration workflows.
Can we get testing coordination without commissioning the manufacturing programme?
Yes — testing coordination is available as a standalone service. Useful for buyers running production elsewhere but wanting an accountable single point of contact for the compliance layer. Bundled fee model: percentage of test cost or fixed per-SKU coordination fee.
What is included in the compliance dossier we get with our shipment?
Product test reports (signed and dated by the lab), Declaration of Conformity (DoC) for CE / UKCA, SASO / SABER certificates for GCC, chemical migration certificates for food-contact SKUs, Prop-65 declarations for California-bound programmes, CPSIA test reports for children's-facing SKUs. Complete dossier delivered with every container.
Where this fits
Adjacentservices,categoriesandclusters.
Related services
Product categories we cover
Manufacturing clusters served
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