BRC Agents and Brokers: Clause 3.4.3 clarification needed
Hello,
For clause 3.4.3 where it states "Where required by the customer, the company shall provide information to enable the last manufacturer or processor of the product to be approved. This shall include the identity of this manufacturer or processor".
I'm not too sure what this clause is asking for, and in what situations this would occur? Can someone help me explain what this clause means?
Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!
From what i understand it seems, BRC A&B requires you as an importer/distributor to provide all the information about the product fabricator/manufacturer/copacker as required by the customer.
My current company is not BRC but we have Quality contracts in place with the customer that covers this portion so if the customer requires info about the supplier from us such as GFSI recognized certificate, audit report and/or any other supplier approval documents, we provide to the customer as asked.
Broadly the intent is that you need to provide information to your client, if requested, such that they can directly approve the actual manufacturer of the product - it's intended to align to an extent with clause 3.5.1.5 of the food standard.
Worth downloading that too if you haven't, as it can give some extra context in some areas (the A&B standard is largely lifted from it, with a few modifications). Download the interpretation guide for both standards too, if you're on Participate ;)
It's a bit of an odd clause as the food standard doesn't actually apply clause 3.5.1.5 if you as the supplier are A&B certified, but lots of retailers (still a big driver for BRC) and their co-packers require approval of the manufacturing source, rather than just the supplier.
Thanks so much for explaining it to me. I understand it now :)