According to those questioned, compliance costs money and constrains growth. In our experience, global trade is getting more complex and demanding and that trend is likely to continue, driven by an increasingly litigious marketplace.

At Track Record Global we are dealing with such issues every day, with thousands of suppliers and millions of products from across the world. Some suppliers have the knowledge and resources to make sure that their products are compliant, but many do not. As a result goods are held up in the supply-chain, margins suffer and customers get disappointed.

From the legal point-of-view the buck stops with the retailer if the product is found to be lacking a vital certificate then the penalties can be heavy, particularly when something goes wrong, which means that the ‘due diligence’ has to be done on every single product. If not, then it’s the all-important reputation of the retailer not the supplier, that is at risk.

Take the Safety Data Sheet, for instance. Its format is tightly-specified in the EU and there is very little room for interpretation. The requirements for the basic ‘16 Points’ are clear, but many SDS certificates that we examine are inadequate. Errors and omissions can arise because the document was prepared many years ago, for a product which now has a different name, in a language that is not understood in the intended marketplace … and some of these products can be very dangerous if incorrectly used. In some cases the documentation is even counterfeit!

At Track Record Global, we work with leading companies who demand high standards, but there is still a long way to go before the public and the environment always get the quality of product that we have every right to expect.