WFSGI Magazine 2020

©WFSGI

By Jack Ng, Senior Product Labelling Specialist, VF Corporation, VF Asia office, Hongkong – Kwun Tong

MANAGING GLOBAL PRODUCT LABELLING COMPLIANCE

WFSGI CLR DB-project, a crucial step forward

Apparel and footwear products require precise labelling. VF requires follow-up of numerous regulations globally. VF Corporation joined WFSGI's Compliant Labelling Requirements (CLR) Database project. Together with other companies, WFSGI approached Compliance and Risks to develop and transform C&R's existing regulatory DB into a customized platform capable of delivering structured labelling instruction. The database was launched in 2018 and generates product labelling information in just a few clicks.

Being active on a global market, following-up and monitoring all applicable regulatory requirements around product labelling is already a massive undertaking on its own to start. The correct interpretation of regulations and proper implementation of requirements are yet other major challenges.

How did Multinational Corporations (MNC) like VF do the labelling before using the Compliance Labelling Requirement (CLR) Database?

Due to the variety of products and coverage of markets, MNCs had to set up the different sets of labels to fulfil the various requirements. For example: one set for US/Canada, one set for member states of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and one set for the Asia Pacific (APAC) – however, an APAC label was never enough to cover China's requirements. VF creates its enterprise-specific product label manual. Moreover, the master table contains translations in 34 languages of the components of labels – care instructions, fibre and material name, sectional parts, country of origin, and product names. A central point of contact maintains the manuals and the master table.

How do Smaller companies do the labelling?

With less exposure, smaller companies have difficulties obtaining information regarding up-to-date labelling requirements. Smaller organizations rely on external advisors or third party laboratories when they need to solve problems with labels. Unfortunately, the risk of nonconformity still exists.

WFSGI DB Project Expectation.

In 2016, WFSGI and the 10 Pioneer companies joined together to partner with Compliance and Risks (C&R) to set-up the CLR database. VF significantly engaged with WFSGI and C&R, advising on the interfacing and content quality of the database since early 2017. The database content needed to be comprehensive and up-to-date on all regulations and potential changes so that product labellers could proactively react to any changes. From the beginning, we expect a tabular output on every functional component of the label.

With the collaboration of VF and other companies with C&R, the beta version was officially launched in August 2018. Allcompanies continue partnering with C&R for improvement of the database regarding user-friendliness and contentrichness.

©Shutterstock

How do Multinational Corporations (MNC) like VF do the labelling after using Compliance Labelling Requirement (CLR) Database?

VF selected out multiple requirements to develop a "global" label to comply with multiple markets and seamlessly manage inventories between markets. Additionally, complaints and claims are minimized to eliminate potential cost (or loss) due to nonconformity. Source: VF brand – VANS

Our road with the database – continuous improvement.

The database is about progress for continuous improvement. The CLR database has a wealth of high quality content to attract new subscribers. Continuous discussions and fruitful advice from more stakeholders also contribute to the growth of the project, so all of us can benefit from the database.

Key advantage of CLR.

Time Saving: With a regulation change alert from CLR, development work can link to updated regulations so as to be compliant when the products are launched in markets. With a set of global labels, shorter lead times on the label allow for complete product production runs done in one go. News Alerts: Subscribers can “click” the interesting topic for News Alert from C2P (the associated platform of CLR) daily and proactively respond to proposed new regulations or any changes.

Newsalert