Product testing
Certification testing of products - an element of a system of measures aimed at confirming compliance with the actual characteristics of products to national or international requirements of regulatory documentation. Certification tests are usually performed by manufacturer-independent accredited testing laboratories.
Based on the test results, a certificate or mark of conformity of the product to the requirements of regulatory documentation is issued.
Technical regulations provide for testing in compliance with certain requirements, individual indicators must be checked for each relevant influence value.
It is worth noting that research and testing have be carried out not only before production, but also during its production and after manufacture with a certain frequency. In the case of product testing, a test report is drawn up.
Tests should be performed by laboratories accredited in the relevant fields. According to the Law of Ukraine "On Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment" accredited testing laboratories of manufacturers may
perform separate work to assess the conformity of products to the requirements of technical regulations, if provided by the relevant technical regulations.
Today, some technical regulations provide for product testing by an accredited testing laboratory of the manufacturer without recourse to the designated conformity assessment body (modules A and C, as well as A1, A2, and C1, C2 at the request of the manufacturer).
In addition, a notified conformity assessment body may not test products in an accredited testing laboratory of the manufacturer of such products and accordingly enter into agreements with such testing laboratories, as this would be contrary to its independence from the manufacturer of the assessed conformity assessment body.
Testing of cosmetic products for microbiological purity
Microbiological studies of cosmetic products are carried out in accordance with the appropriate analysis of microbiological risk, in order to ensure users' quality and safety.
Microbiological risk analysis depends on several parameters, such as:
possible change of cosmetic products;
pathogenicity of microorganisms;
area of application of the cosmetic product (hair, skin, eyes, mucous membranes);
user type (adults, children, including children under 3 years).
Checking the microbiological purity of cosmetic products is an important step in preparing products for export to EU countries. Appropriate tests are required to prepare a Safety Report.
Such tests must be performed by an accredited laboratory. Tests are carried out on a number of indicators such as:
Number of microorganisms EN ISO 21149
Staphylococcus aureus EN ISO 22718
Pseudomonas aeruginosa EN ISO 22717
Candida albicans EN ISO 18416
Escherichia coli EN ISO 21150
Yeast and mold EN ISO 16212
Evaluation of antimicrobial protection of cosmetics EN ISO 11930
The duration of most studies is from 5 to 10 working days, and the assessment of antimicrobial protection of cosmetics according to EN ISO 11930 - from 30 to 45 working days. To these terms it is necessary to add from 3 to 5 working days for the international sending of samples to the European accredited laboratory.
Thus, it becomes clear that it is important to take into account the deadlines and conduct a study of microbiological purity in advance to make all the necessary documents for export.
An equally important factor will be forecasting the required budget for the study, as testing only one cosmetic product is on average from 160 to 180 euros.