How we are paid, and what that does not buy

A fee buys evaluation. It does not buy a certificate. Fees are agreed after the rabbinic decision, never in exchange for it, and no member of staff involved in setting or collecting fees takes part in deciding whether to certify.

• Application and ingredient review

  Assessed once per facility, based on the number of products and raw materials. This is the longest stage of certification and the one that most often ends an application.

• Inspection

  Per visit, including travel. Unannounced visits are part of the annual fee, not billed as extras — otherwise the fee would be an incentive not to make them.

• Annual certification

  Covers the certificate, the mark licence, artwork approval and the register entry.

• Extensions

  Adding products, lines or sites during the year.

A written quotation is given before any work starts. We do not charge to lodge a complaint or an appeal, and we do not charge for suspending or withdrawing a certificate.

Certification is open to any applicant whose products fall within what we are competent to assess. Access is never made conditional on the size of the company, on membership of any association or group, on the number of certificates already held, or on the use of a particular consultant or supplier.

Where we are not competent or not staffed to evaluate something — a designation we cannot supervise, a category we do not cover — we say so and decline the application rather than take the fee.