In many regions obtaining an approval requires a local applicant / certificate holder, representing the Manufacturer in the country, and accepting responsibility for the conformity of the certified products to the regulations of the based on some form of representation agreement in terms of compliance of the product.
There are several bottlenecks associated with this requirement:
- Lack of a suitable legal entity — at the initial market entry stage, a foreign manufacturer may not have a local office or a partner at all, preventing them from obtaining the approvals necessary for unconstrained marketing.
- Conflict of interests — in case one of the distributors acts as the applicant, they alone will bear the responsibility for the conformity of all products, including those shipped by their competitors. Some companies may use this as a tool to fight competition.
- Redundant certification — if there is no single company that agrees to accept the responsibilities of the local applicant, same products will require repeated certification, to provide each buyer with the required approval.
A solution to that is a third-party applicant, a company serving a single purpose — to fulfil a formal requirement for obtaining the approval. It will issue the necessary Power of Attorney to allow other companies to use the approvals, and it will not engage in any other activity.
The Local Applicant service is available in the following regions:
