24 standards · last reviewed 2026-09-30

Certification decoder

A supplier pack can contain a dozen certificates and still tell you almost nothing about the goods you will receive. This page separates what each mark proves from what it merely suggests, and shows how to verify it independently.

Quality systems & facility

Proves the factory has a process. Not proof that a specific product works.

GMP / cGMP

Good Manufacturing Practice (current Good Manufacturing Practice)

National regulators, or an accredited certification body

Proves: The facility follows documented procedures for hygiene, batch records, equipment, staff training and quality control, and is inspected against a published standard.
Does not prove: That the products are effective, that the formula matches the marketing, or that the certificate covers your specific product type.
How to verify it yourself: Ask for the certificate scope and expiry, who issued it, the audit date, and the last audit report or corrective actions. A 'GMP' logo on a website without a certificate number is not evidence.

ISO 22716

Cosmetics — Good Manufacturing Practices

Accredited certification bodies

Proves: The cosmetics manufacturer runs a documented GMP system appropriate to cosmetics, and its production, control and storage processes have been audited.
Does not prove: Product safety, formula claims, or compliance with the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation (which is a separate legal duty).
How to verify it yourself: Certificate number, accredited body, scope including product classes, and expiry date. Cross-check the body's own register.

NSF/ANSI 455-2

Good Manufacturing Practices for Dietary Supplements

NSF International

Proves: The supplement facility meets an audited GMP standard specifically for dietary supplements, with annual surveillance audits.
Does not prove: That any particular finished product is correctly labelled or tested. That requires product certification.
How to verify it yourself: Search the certification body's public register for the facility name and address rather than trusting a scanned PDF.

ISO 9001

Quality management systems

Accredited certification bodies

Proves: The organisation has a documented quality management system and is audited against it.
Does not prove: Anything about product safety, purity, efficacy or regulatory compliance. It is a management-system standard.
How to verify it yourself: Confirm the issuing body is accredited and the scope covers manufacturing, not just 'trading' or 'distribution'.

Product & batch certification

The strongest kind — it covers the product or the batch you receive.

USP Verified

United States Pharmacopeia Dietary Supplement Verification Program

USP

Proves: The product's actual content has been reviewed against its label: identity, strength, purity and dissolution, plus tests for contaminants, and the facility is audited.
Does not prove: That the product is effective or that the claims are clinically supported.
How to verify it yourself: Check the USP verified product list for the exact brand and product. Certification is product-specific, not brand-wide.

Informed Sport / Informed Choice

Banned-substance testing programmes

LGC (and similar programmes)

Proves: Products are tested for a defined list of prohibited substances in sport, on a batch or continuous basis, with the batch listed publicly.
Does not prove: General product safety, or that the product contains no other contaminants outside the tested panel.
How to verify it yourself: Look the batch number up on the programme's own website. Batch-level verification is the entire point of the scheme.

Market authorisation

Permission to sell in a country. It is not a quality endorsement.

FDA facility registration

US FDA food/dietary supplement facility registration; cosmetic facility registration under MoCRA

US Food and Drug Administration

Proves: The facility has registered with the FDA, which is a legal obligation for most supplement and (now) cosmetic facilities serving the US market.
Does not prove: That the FDA has inspected the facility, approved the products, or endorsed their safety. Registration is not approval.
How to verify it yourself: Ask for the registration number and confirm the facility name matches the contract manufacturer. Note that cosmetic facility registration and product listing requirements were introduced by MoCRA — check the FDA's current guidance for deadlines.

NDI notification

New Dietary Ingredient notification (US)

Submitted to the US FDA by the manufacturer or distributor

Proves: That a notification was filed for an ingredient not marketed in the US before 15 October 1994.
Does not prove: That the FDA accepted or approved the ingredient. The FDA may object, and often does.
How to verify it yourself: Search the FDA's NDI notification list for the ingredient and read the FDA's response letter — the objection letters are published.

EU cosmetics notification (CPNP)

Cosmetic Products Notification Portal

European Commission portal, filed by the Responsible Person

Proves: That the cosmetic product has been notified before being placed on the EU market, with a named Responsible Person established in the EU.
Does not prove: Safety approval, or that the CPSR (safety report) or PIF is complete and correct — those are duties of the Responsible Person.
How to verify it yourself: Confirm who the Responsible Person is and that the notification number exists for the exact product and variant.

UK cosmetics notification (SCPN)

Submit Cosmetic Product Notification

UK Office for Product Safety and Standards

Proves: The product is notified for the UK market and a UK Responsible Person is named.
Does not prove: Safety, or compliance of the label and claims, which remain the Responsible Person's duty.
How to verify it yourself: Ask for the UK Responsible Person's details and the notification reference. The EU and UK systems are separate — a CPNP number does not cover Great Britain.

AUST L / AUST R

Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods listing or registration

Therapeutic Goods Administration

Proves: AUST L means a low-risk product is listed (self-assessed against permitted ingredients and claims); AUST R means a higher-risk product has been assessed and registered.
Does not prove: For AUST L, that the TGA has assessed the evidence or the product — listing is largely self-certified.
How to verify it yourself: Look the number up in the ARTG and compare the listed ingredients and indications with what the label claims.

NPN / DIN-HM product licence

Health Canada Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate

Health Canada

Proves: A natural health product has a product licence with an eight-digit NPN or DIN-HM number, and the label is approved with it.
Does not prove: Efficacy review — most products are approved on the basis of published monographs or references, not new clinical trials.
How to verify it yourself: Search the Licensed Natural Health Products Database and compare the authorised label text with the label in front of you.

CE marking (EU MDR)

Medical Device Regulation (EU) 2017/745 conformity

Notified Body for higher-risk classes; self-declaration for the lowest risk

Proves: The device conforms to the applicable EU requirements for its class, and for most classes a Notified Body certificate exists.
Does not prove: That the device is clinically effective for any particular claim, or that it is reimbursed.
How to verify it yourself: Ask for the Notified Body certificate and the EU declaration of conformity, and check the Notified Body's number against the EU's published list.

FDA 510(k) clearance or De Novo

US medical device premarket submission

US Food and Drug Administration

Proves: The FDA has cleared the device for the specific intended use stated in the clearance letter.
Does not prove: Anything outside the cleared indications — marketing beyond the cleared intended use is a violation.
How to verify it yourself: Search the FDA's device databases for the clearance number and read the indications for use, then compare with the marketing copy the supplier sent you.

Ethical, origin & sustainability

Supply chain and values claims. Useful for retail listings, not for quality.

USDA Organic / EU Organic

Certified organic production

Accredited certifiers (USDA National Organic Program, EU organic-control bodies)

Proves: The ingredient or product meets the organic standard for that scheme, with traceability back to the certified operation.
Does not prove: Any health benefit, or that the non-organic parts of the formula are high quality. A product can be 'made with organic' ingredients and still be largely synthetic.
How to verify it yourself: Ask for the certificate of organic operation and check the certifier's register. Organic certificates apply to operations and products, not to brands.

COSMOS / NATRUE

Natural and organic cosmetics standards

COSMOS-standard AISBL; NATRUE

Proves: The product meets a published natural/organic cosmetics standard, including restrictions on petrochemical ingredients and packaging-content criteria.
Does not prove: Safety, efficacy, or that the product is preservative-free — certified natural products still need preservation.
How to verify it yourself: Certificates are product-level and annual. Look the product up in the standard's own certificate database.

Halal and Kosher certification

Religious dietary certification

Recognised halal certification bodies; kosher authorities

Proves: The product and its production line meet the requirements of the certifying authority — including cleaning between product runs, which is where most failures occur.
Does not prove: Quality, purity or general safety. It is a compliance statement about ingredients and process.
How to verify it yourself: Check which authority issued the certificate and whether your destination market recognises that body. Recognised-authority lists differ by country.

Vegan Society / EVE Vegan

Vegan product registration

The Vegan Society, EVE, and similar bodies

Proves: No animal-derived ingredients and no animal testing by the registered company, for the registered products.
Does not prove: That upstream suppliers are genuinely compliant — the mark depends on declarations the certifier cannot audit at every tier.
How to verify it yourself: Confirm the trademark applies to the specific product, not just the company, and ask what evidence was collected for the raw materials (lanolin, gelatin, carmine and magnesium stearate are the usual problems).

B Corp

Certified B Corporation

B Lab

Proves: The whole company scored above a verified threshold on social and environmental performance, with legal accountability built in.
Does not prove: Anything about product quality or safety, and it does not evaluate individual products.
How to verify it yourself: Check the company profile in B Lab's directory and look at the individual impact-area scores, not just the total.

RSPO / FSC

Sustainable palm oil and responsible forestry certification

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil; Forest Stewardship Council

Proves: The specific supply chain or material meets the scheme's rules. RSPO has several models from 'book and claim' to segregated supply chains, which are not equivalent.
Does not prove: Product safety. It is a sourcing and environmental claim.
How to verify it yourself: Ask which RSPO model applies — 'mass balance' and 'book and claim' do not mean the physical material is segregated — and check the certificate covers your supplier.

Laboratory & test reports

The evidence behind everything else — and the easiest to fake.

ISO/IEC 17025

Competence of testing and calibration laboratories

National accreditation bodies

Proves: The laboratory itself is accredited for the specific test methods listed in its scope.
Does not prove: That a test result is favourable — only that the lab is competent to run the listed tests.
How to verify it yourself: Check the accreditation scope covers the exact test (for example heavy metals by ICP-MS) and that the report carries the accreditation mark.

Certificate of analysis (CoA)

Batch-specific test report

The manufacturer or a third-party laboratory

Proves: What the named laboratory found in the named batch, if the batch number matches your goods and the lab is named.
Does not prove: Anything, if it is a 'typical' or generic CoA reused between batches. This is the most faked document in the industry.
How to verify it yourself: Match the batch number to your invoice and packing list, confirm the lab name and accreditation, and call the laboratory directly on a number you found yourself to confirm the report exists.

Stability testing

Real-time and accelerated stability data

Manufacturer's laboratory, ideally third-party verified

Proves: How the product's potency, appearance and microbiology behave over time at defined temperature and humidity.
Does not prove: Anything about the formula's safety; it is about shelf life and label accuracy at end of life.
How to verify it yourself: Ask for real-time data at the storage conditions your market requires, not only accelerated data, and confirm the packaging tested matches yours.

Preservative efficacy test

Challenge test / PET (ISO 11930 for cosmetics)

Microbiology laboratory

Proves: That the preserved formula resists microbial growth under the test protocol — the key safety test for water-containing cosmetics.
Does not prove: That the product is safe on skin, or that the study used your final packaging and filling process.
How to verify it yourself: The test must be on the finished formula in the final packaging, and re-run if the formula, preservative or packaging changes.

The three tiers of assurance

Sort everything you are sent into three tiers, and the questions answer themselves:

Tier 1 — the company. ISO 9001, B Corp, and similar. Useful context about how the business is run. It tells you nothing about the goods.
Tier 2 — the facility. GMP, ISO 22716, NSF/ANSI 455-2, FDA registration. Tells you the factory has a documented process and, in the case of the audited schemes, has been inspected against it.
Tier 3 — the batch. Certificate of analysis from an accredited laboratory, batch-specific stability data, preservative efficacy testing, banned-substance batch verification. This is the only tier that speaks about the products you will actually receive.

A supplier who can only produce Tier 1 and Tier 2 documents, and cannot produce a batch-specific Tier 3 document for the goods on your invoice, has not finished their documentation.

Frequently asked questions

Which certificate matters most?

Product and batch certification beats facility certification every time. A GMP certificate tells you the factory has a process; a batch certificate of analysis from an accredited laboratory, matched to the batch number on your invoice, tells you something about the goods you are actually receiving. Ask for both, and weight the batch document more heavily.

How do I verify a certificate that might be fake?

Three steps. Check the issuing body is real and accredited, look the certificate number up in that body's own public register rather than trusting the PDF, and call the issuer or laboratory on a number you found yourself. Generic certificates that describe no batch number are the most common weakness in a supplier pack.

Does CE marking mean the product is high quality?

No. CE marking means the product conforms to the applicable EU legal requirements, and for many product types it is a self-declaration by the manufacturer. It says nothing about quality, effectiveness or whether the product is the best option. For higher-risk devices a Notified Body is involved, which is a stronger form of assurance.

Is a certificate from the supplier's own laboratory acceptable?

It is a starting point, not verification. In-house results are useful for routine release testing, but for heavy metals, microbiology, potency and contaminants, third-party testing at an accredited laboratory is what a serious buyer or retailer will ask to see — and it is the only version worth paying for on a high-value order.