Our customer didn’t understand the difference between the traceable certificate we supply and EC verification, its a common problem and that is the reason for this post.

Highstreet Example:
When you visit a butcher and you ask for 1kg of Lamb chops for supper the butcher will place your request on a scale.

The scale he or she uses should be EC Verified or Trade Approved, this is a  legal requirement of the Government and EU to protect the consumer from being undersold. The scales will have gone through stringent checks to ensure that the weight displayed is correct and falls with in set tolerances.

Any transaction that takes place on a scale needs to be done on a scale that has been EC Verified or Trade Approved.

Commercial Supply Example:
A supplier is selling you an IBC full of 1000kg of product, on the invoice you receive it states 1000kg and the price of the product. By law the scale must be EC verified / Trade Approved.

Commercial Receive Example:
You are offering to recycle/reclaim 1000kg of waste from your customer, he has brought it to your site for you to weigh and you will be paying him for the waste product as it has a value. By law the scale must be EC verified / Trade Approved.

Commercial Service Example:
You visit a clients site to shred confidential paperwork, you charge your customer £1.00 per 10kg. You weigh the paper before it is shredded and produce a bill based on the amount shredded. By law the scale must be EC verified / Trade Approved.

Traceable Calibration Certificates:
These types of certificate do not make the scale Approved / Verfied or legal for trade, a traceable certificate only give you an audit trail that may be important for a BRC or ISO accreditation. Any scale can be certificated, from a kitchen scale all the way up to a 50 Tonne weighbridge. Most auditors will require a certificate for any calibrated item along with a paper trail.

As part of our service we offer a full set of traceable documentation that will cover you for audits, these include the following.

1) Weight Certificates traceable to National Standards.
2) Our ISO9001 Certificate
3) Method Statement
4) Health & Safety policies
5) Insurance Statements – Employee and Public Liability

I hope that some of these pointer help you understand a bit more about EC Verification / Trade Approval and Calibration Certificates and the areas that they are needed.

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