How to check the quality certificate issued by the SGS laboratory?

To begin with, let's define what is an SGS certificate? The name comes from SGS SA (Société Générale de Surveillance) - a Swiss company that provides independent examination, control, testing and certification services . As of early 2022, SGS had more than 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.

The SGS certificate is quite popular in the field of international business, because in this way counterparties check each other's activities for compliance with international, national, regulatory and industry standards . Industries in which SGS certificates are used:

• Agriculture and food;
• (Bio)chemistry, rubber and plastics;
• Construction;
• Electricity and electronics;
• Forestry and wood products;
• Information Technology;
• Machinery and equipment;
• Medical products;
• Oil, gas, mineral raw materials and metals;
• Pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry;
• Public sector;
• Tourism and induction including automotive, aerospace and logistics.

But there are rare cases when unscrupulous counterparties forge certificates. And here the question immediately arises as to how to check the authenticity of the SGS certificate. To begin with, you can familiarize yourself with the advice on visual inspection on the official website :

• The image of the bird is applied with color-changing inks by the method of hot pressing (OVI SICPASTAR). This technology is used to print banknotes such as the euro. Depending on the direction of the light, the color of the SGS bird pattern changes from blue to purple and vice versa.
• The letters "SGS" on the offset logo are printed in concentric lines, the orange line is printed miniature numbers 0.4 mm thick, which form the following text: "SGS - THE WORLD'S LEADING INSPECTION, TESTING COMPANY" (a leader in the field of examination, testing and certification").
• The continents of the Earth's planisphere are indicated by the letters "SGS". The letters "SGS" are printed with inks that turn turquoise-yellow when exposed to ultraviolet light.
• Under UV light, yellow fibers (otherwise invisible) are treated throughout the paper. Each sheet of the secure SGS certificate form has a unique serial number.

The above-mentioned methods are effective, but they do not provide a 100% guarantee of protection against counterfeiting, because with the development of technology, the quality of counterfeits develops, so the authenticity of the certificate can be checked through the SGS form , by filling it out and "attaching" the certificate form. After a short time - you will receive an official answer regarding the authenticity of the certificate. The service is provided free of charge.

Therefore, we advise you to immediately turn to the second method and check the certificates of counterparties through the official SGS website in order to protect yourself from unscrupulous counterparties, because if the counterparty falsifies documents, then there will be no business with him!!!