QCA Accreditation – Scope

The Comprehensive Scope Of QCA Accreditation

In today’s business climate, promotional products buyers expect their vendor partners to proactively address the topics of safety and compliance. Distributors have the daunting task of providing safe and compliant products to their end buyer clients, and with QCA Certified Suppliers, they have a proven pool of product offerings as sources.

In order to provide the accountability necessary to assure buyers and end users that products meet applicable measures of compliance, QCA Accreditation tests not only for the presence of and completeness of compliance programs but also the effectiveness of these programs in detecting and deterring noncompliance. This comprehensive program assess five key areas:

Product Safety

A QCA Certified Supplier has policies and procedures that are robust and able to detect and deter non-compliant product from shipping to customers. Corporate brand equity is also protected by reducing the need for product recalls, thus keeping news of any unsafe product out of the headlines. The processes include:

• A commitment to assuring consumer safety and brand security
• Design guidelines that cover legal and product performance requirements as well as raw material specifications
• A product approval protocol that assures only product meeting specified design guidelines is approved for manufacture
• Testing guidelines for internal evaluations and third-party assessments
• Mechanisms for assuring traceability
• Recall protocols

Product Quality

A QCA Certified Supplier has procedures in place governing product quality from design through manufacturing that provide a means to monitor and verify quality standards are maintained throughout the process. An expectation of quality is established with:

• A formally documented Quality Manual
• A process that assures only product for which an approved standard exists are manufactured
• Inspections for both pre- and post-shipments
• A process for evaluating root cause and assigning corrective actions
• Supplier qualification programs

Supply Chain Security

A QCA Certified Supplier’s policies and procedures meet the security criteria established by U.S. Customs’ C-TPAT (Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) program that protects our borders. A supply chain security program should encompass both domestic and offshore process and facility review. It should include:

• Container security
• Facility physical security
• Procedural security
• Access control
• Supply chain visibility

Social Accountability

A QCA Certified Supplier’s policies and procedures ensure that those facilities that are part of its supply chain adhere to legal and ethical standards that are based on internationally agreed upon protocols of the UN Global Compact. These include:

• Worker’s rights
• Legal compensation requirements
• Physical working and living conditions
• Worker safety

Environmental Stewardship

A QCA Certified Supplier’s policies and procedures promote an ongoing stewardship of the environment, which includes:

• Compliance with local environmental regulations
• Recycling
• Restriction and monitoring for banned substances
• Resource management

To learn about the QCA Accreditation process and how to get begin, review Getting Started With QCA: A Quick Reference Guide.

To inquire further about becoming a QCA Applicant, contact Jeffrey P. Jacobs at jeff@qcalliance.org.

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