Certification Requirements
Clear requirements for certification.
Core requirements, product-specific evidence and optional specialist reviews, defined before work begins.
Requirement Categories
Understand what belongs in your scope.
Core Review Requirements
- Defined product identity, final formula, label version, intended users and markets
- Relevant microbiological and contaminant evidence, with methods and product or batch correspondence
- Ingredient restrictions, basic label checks, allergen declarations where relevant and support for existing product claims
- Product safety evidence appropriate to the category; cosmetics include preservation, stability and packaging review
- Child-specific age and exposure assessment for children's personal care products
- Manufacturer, supplier, SKU or batch references and applicant declaration
Risk-Triggered Requirements
- Food: relevant pesticide, mycotoxin, veterinary-drug or residual-solvent evidence
- Food: targeted adulteration screening, allergen cross-contact evidence and food-contact packaging evidence when needed
- Shelf-life evidence when safety or declared composition could change during storage
- Cosmetics: preservation challenge evidence where needed, or a supported low-risk justification
- Relevant impurity, skin and eye tolerance evidence selected for the formulation and intended use
- Children's personal care: evidence appropriate to the stated age, application site and foreseeable exposure
- Evidence for claims already made on the reviewed product; unsupported wording must be revised before approval
Optional Specialist Reviews
- Optional Nutritionist Label Review: an external dietitian reviewer interprets nutrition declarations and product information, separately from basic label-document consistency checks.
- Analytical verification of selected declared nutrients or functional ingredients
- Optional Claim Evidence Review by an external dietitian reviewer for food and supplement benefit claims, matched to the product, dose, population and exact wording
- Cosmetic performance, sensitive-skin, non-comedogenic or declared-ingredient review
- Children's tear-free, age-relevant tolerance, moisturization or barrier-support claim review
- Specific absence or composition claims with defined substances, methods and reporting limits
- Extended stability, additional batch verification or selected Market Review
Basic Label Accuracy checks the label against submitted documents. Nutritionist Label Review, Market Review and Claim Evidence Review are optional services with separately agreed scopes.
One Certification, Defined Scope
One certification, with a product-specific scope. Core review is included. Risk-triggered evidence is required when applicable and cannot be waived by declining an add-on. Optional specialist reviews extend the agreed scope; they do not create a higher certification level.
Testing and Evidence
TrustLab reviews submitted third-party reports and supporting records. If evidence is missing or unsuitable, additional work by an appropriate external laboratory may be needed. Evidence requirements, any testing coordination and additional fees are confirmed in the proposal. A certificate does not establish safety or efficacy beyond the reviewed scope.
Limits of Claim Review
Detecting an ingredient or obtaining a reviewer's signature does not, by itself, demonstrate a health or cosmetic benefit of the finished product. Specialist claim review evaluates the supporting evidence; it does not guarantee approval.
TrustLab Review Framework
Four dimensions of review.
Identity
Product, formula and ingredient records.
Safety
Third-party testing and relevant quality evidence.
Label Accuracy
Label details matched to submitted documents.
Traceability
Product, SKU, batch and supplier references.
Consumer Explanation
What TrustLab Certification Confirms
- 1
Product identity was reviewed.
Product identity, formula information and label details were reviewed within the stated scope.
- 2
Evidence was reviewed.
TrustLab receives product materials, quality documents and third-party test reports. The TrustLab review team performs the technical review and makes the final certification decision.
- 3
Claims must stay within scope.
Claims in the reviewed scope need appropriate evidence. Additional specialist claim reviews are identified separately in the agreed scope.
- 4
The report can be verified.
Certification status, product details and review scope are publicly accessible through TrustLab verification.
Evidence & Acceptance
Match the evidence to the product.
Criteria for the Proposed Scope
- Identify the required review items and risk triggers for the category, intended user and use conditions.
- Confirm the applicable criterion, source, version or date, method suitability and acceptance basis for each relevant item before formal review.
- Record the product, formula, label, sample and batch coverage, supporting references and any exclusions or justified exceptions.
- State in the agreed scope which specialist claims or Market Review are included. A target-market name alone does not establish market authorization.
Third-Party Evidence Checks
Evidence is assessed for relevance, traceability and suitability to the agreed scope.
- Match the report to the finished product, formula and label versions, sample, SKU and batch. Ingredient COAs need an appropriate basis for application to the finished product.
- Identify the report issuer, original reference and relevant testing competence, including the actual scope of any claimed accreditation.
- Identify the sample source, sampling and testing dates, relevant handling conditions and the production represented by the sample.
- Check methods, product matrix, units, reporting limits, results and applicable criterion sources. Alternative methods need a documented suitability basis.
- Assess report age against the current formula, process, supplier, packaging, storage and market. Continued applicability, rather than a universal age cutoff, determines suitability.
- Resolve evidence gaps or inconsistencies with clarification, updated records or additional external testing as appropriate.
Review Coverage
Claims already made on the reviewed product need appropriate support or revision before approval. Core label checks do not, by themselves, establish every claimed benefit. Ingredient detection, a professional signature or softer wording alone does not establish finished-product efficacy.
- Core Label Accuracy: consistency of the reviewed label and directions with submitted formula, identity and safety records, including whether existing claims require support or revision.
- Claim Evidence Review: a specifically agreed evaluation of the evidence for the exact benefit wording, finished product, exposure or dose and population.
- Market Review: only the named market, questions and documents in the agreed scope. It is not regulatory registration, import clearance or blanket legal approval.
- The Public Certification Report should identify completed scope and material exclusions. Paying for an add-on is not evidence that it has been successfully completed.
Badge Usage Rules
Use TLCHECK within written approval.
View badge use conditions
TLCHECK
For approved use on certified product packaging and approved digital channels.
Use TLCHECK only for the expressly approved product, artwork, channels and period. Do not imply government approval, market authorization, disease-treatment validation or coverage of unreviewed products. Changes require confirmation of continued coverage; an expired, suspended or withdrawn certification must not be promoted as active.