Certification guide

Summary

In order to ensure products with sufficiently high quality and to gain access to important markets around the world a certification scheme has been developed. The scheme suggests a set of environmental and social responsibility actions which are considered to be important in terms of marketing and consumer demands. The scheme can therefore be regarded as a competitive necessity in the bottled water business. The first three stages of the scheme are mandatory (see Figure 1). They include water source definitions and quality requirements for water derived directly from glaciers for the different markets. In addition both GMP and a HACCP system need to be implemented. Ideally all companies should have some sort of system  certification, preferably ISO 14001 (an environmental management systems) as it will serve as a tool for continuous improvement regarding emission and environmental impact. The company/ producer must be certified by an independent third party. Also, some core performance indicators should be included in the annual report regarding environmental impact and social responsibility. Consequently, companies operating in Greenland should have some form of company responsibility plan in order to protect reenland’s unique culture and environment. A clear and proactive environmental profile is necessary in the increasingly more international, and at times controversial, water business. Furthermore, if the product is promoted as having certain qualities, such as “from before Christ” these aspects need to be documented through product certification. Finally, since deriving water from glaciers is different than using water from other conventional water sources a few critical aspects should be consider carefully. Some of these aspects are outlined in section 7 (General considerations).