The scheme
Every rule under which a certificate can start, change or end. Published because a certification body that keeps its own rules private is asking to be taken on trust.
The certificate is issued after the ingredient review, the plant inspection and a decision by the Rav HaMachshir. The person who decides is never the person who evaluated.
Then — The record is published to the register and the mark artwork is released for the products listed.
Certification continues only under surveillance: announced and unannounced plant visits, ingredient spot-checks against your approved list, and re-verification of every supplier letter.
Then — Nothing changes on the register. Validity is the result of the surveillance, not of the passage of time.
Adding products, designations, a production line or a site. Treated as a decision, not an edit: the additions are evaluated and decided in the same way as the original grant.
Then — A revised certificate is issued under the same number, and the register shows the enlarged scope.
Removing products or sites while the rest of the certificate continues. Either because you asked, or because a finding affects part of the scope and only that part.
Then — A revised certificate is issued, the register shows the reduced scope, and the mark may no longer be used on what was removed.
Certification is paused. Used where a finding is serious enough that we cannot stand behind the products for now, but the situation is recoverable.
Then — The register shows Suspended the same day, all use of the mark and of the certificate must stop, and we give you a named contact and a written list of what must happen to lift it.
Certification is revoked permanently — a critical failure, refusal of access, or a suspension that was never resolved.
Then — The register shows Withdrawn permanently. Use of the mark ends immediately, unused packaging must be destroyed, and continued use is pursued as trademark infringement.
You choose not to continue, or production stops. No finding against you is involved.
Then — The register says the certification ended by agreement, and says explicitly that it was not revoked. We will not let a client who simply left be read as one who was sanctioned.
An application that does not meet the requirements is refused, with reasons in writing. We also decline applications we are not competent or staffed to evaluate.
Then — Nothing is published — a refusal is not a public event. You may appeal it.
A Type 5 product certification scheme as described in ISO/IEC 17067:2013: the product is assessed, the production process is assessed, a decision is made, a licence to use the mark is granted, and the certificate stays valid only under continuing surveillance of the process. It is the model that fits ongoing food production, and it is the reason we visit rather than simply re-read paperwork once a year.
The requirements themselves are halachic, determined under our rabbinic authority. Our classifications reference sets out what each status on a certificate means, and the supervision process sets out the twelve stages in detail.
Ingredients, suppliers, formulation, processing aids, shared equipment, the place of manufacture, ownership, and the people responsible for production. Approval is never retrospective: using the mark after an unapproved change is unauthorised use, and it is the most common way a certificate is lost.