RAL Quality Mark Services
The RAL Quality Assurance for Substrates for Plants is a reputable quality mark underlining the integrity and sense of responsibility of companies trading in soils, substrates and mulches. These companies are required to undergo extensive neutral inspections before they are allowed to use the RAL quality mark. The quality mark identifies a product as complying with defined quality standards, the Quality and Testing Regulations, and as being under inspection of independent supervisors. It is a milestone for user safety and consumer trust in the product.
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Why RAL Quality Assurance?
The quality and uniformity of substrates have to meet the high requirements of state-of-the-art crop management in horticulture and construction work in landscape gardening. The quality assurance programmes for substrates and their constituents, as well as bark products, defined key quality parameters and requirements as well as methods of identifying them. These parameters and requirements are specified in the Quality and Testing Regulations. They ensure that the quality of these items can be measured without any ambiguity and controlled.
Quality Inspections
The quality assurance specifies inspections that in most cases are more extensive than those usually done in the production facilities. For example, biological parameters such as the absence of weeds and growth inhibitors are an integral part of the inspections. The emphasis placed on substrate structure is also unusual. Similarly, the quality assurance calls for retained samples that will allow for inspecting the quality of already delivered substrates as needed. The Quality and Testing Regulations also include the obligation to declare key properties of the substrates.
All the above underlines the advantages quality assurance offers to consumers and is consequently a selling point for producers.
High product reliability based on RAL Quality Assurance
The RAL Quality Assurance for Substrates for Plants safeguards the interest of consumers and users by ensuring that quality standards are uniform and comparable. The following criteria are in place to ensure quality:
- Regular voluntary inspections monitor compliance with specified quality standards
- Extensive internal and external monitoring activities guarantee that the quality standards are met.
- Retained samples and the declaration of key substrate parameters provide additional user safety.
- A neutral body (the quality commission) evaluates the inspections.
- The RAL quality mark identifies a product to users and consumers as complying with specified quality standards.
This guarantees the maximum degree of product reliability.
The RAL ”Substrates for Plants“ quality mark is based on defined quality criteria
The RAL ”Substrates for Plants“ quality mark is a reliable roadmap, because it means that the following criteria are met:
- defined approval procedure
- thorough review of applications
- regular neutral product inspections
- reliable high quality
RAL quality mark – Procedure
RAL Quality Assurance – how it works
Below, you will find an explanation, in a nutshell, of how the RAL Quality Assurance procedure works. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Step 1: Approval procedure
If producers wish to obtain quality assurance for their product, their application will initiate a six-month approval procedure. During this period, a specified number of extensive analyses must be carried out depending on the type of product. The regulations require both sampling by the facility and external sampling by an external sampler who is to be appointed by Gütegemeinschaft Substrate für Pflanzen e.V. (GGS). People in charge of sampling will be specifically trained for this responsibility. The analysis programme may only be carried out by independent labs that are appointed by the relevant GGS quality commissions. The testing methods to be used in the analyses are precisely defined. The laboratory sends the analysis results directly to the GGS office to be evaluated by the relevant quality commission.
Step 2: Awarding the quality mark
If after the above-mentioned approval period, the product registered for quality assurance is found to meet the quality regulations, the quality commission may award the quality mark.
Step 3: Monitoring
Monitoring starts once the quality mark has been awarded. Again, a specific number of samples must be inspected in independent laboratories under the quality commission’s control depending on the type of product. A specific number of external samplings is required. This external monitoring is a key mainstay of the quality assurance. The facility is also required to monitor and keep record of the production process at all times, as well as check each charge on site for key production parameters of the substrate produced, such as salinity and pH value (self-monitoring). If a product fails to meet the quality assurance requirements, the quality commission is entitled to order repeat inspections to be made and to suspend or withdraw the quality mark if necessary.
Advantages of RAL quality marks
Responsible, reliable and progressive
The RAL “Substrates for Plants” quality mark is an independent and objective certificate of quality assurance. It entails continuous quality monitoring.
- Mulches, humus, growing media, soils and constituents exceed minimum standards of quality.
- The Quality Regulations of the RAL association Gütegemeinschaft Substrate für Pflanzen e.V. ensure that product quality is exceptionally high.
- The RAL ”Substrates for Plants“ quality mark is based on the strict rules set by RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. (German Institute for Quality Assurance and Certification).
- The RAL ”Substrates for Plants“ quality mark is neutral and independent of any company.
- The RAL ”Substrates for Plants“ quality mark is subject to continuous inspection and always up to date with current market expectations and technical requirements.
RAL
The reliable roadmap.
By using the RAL quality mark, more than 9,000 producers and service providers show that they have their customers’ interests very much at heart. Many people are confused by the ever-growing choice of goods and services. Most identifications and labels muddle people instead of helping them to obtain a clearer picture. The RAL quality mark is a safe and reliable roadmap in this product jungle. The reason is the unique system of the RAL Quality Assurance. It ensures that the rising demands of consumers and companies alike are given special consideration when awarding the RAL quality mark for a group of products or a category of services.
The trusted brand for more than 80 years.
In 1925, the German industry and government decided to harmonise technical specifications and define them more precisely. They established specific quality requirements for products and services and stipulated that compliance be monitored. At that time, the Reichsauschuss für Lieferbedingungen (called RAL ever since) was founded. To this day, RAL (today: RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung e.V. / German Institute for Quality Assurance and Certification) has been in charge of awarding the RAL quality mark.
The guidelines for quality marks make all the difference
Consequently, the foundation for the RAL Quality Assurance system was laid. This strict system still today sets the RAL quality mark apart from all other kinds of labels. The RAL quality mark is a badge of neutrality and reliability.
that the quality and testing regulations are defined in an objective public procedure independently of any producer. In its surveys, RAL also includes institutions such as state and federal authorities, associations affected, consumers, but also testing organisations. By doing so, the organisation prevents the RAL Quality Assurance Quality and Testing Regulations from reflecting the interests of individual market players’ only.
RAL Quality Assurance lables are state of the art.
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