Target continues to evolve its Product Quality, Safety, and Regulatory (PSQR) program. Beginning February 1, 2024, there will be a change to how Quality Program Assessments (QPA) are processed. The Vendor Compliance Assessment Tool (VCAT) will now be initiated and processed by a third-party partner, Bureau Veritas (BV), as a replacement for the QPA.
The purpose of these assessments is to evaluate a business partner’s understanding and ability to execute safety and regulatory requirements. It is part of Target’s due care process required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to create confidence that manufacturers’ procedures establish the ability to be complete with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) rules before Target imports goods. It is also critical that business partners have documented processes implemented and that production documents are maintained to show that the business partner follows a structured quality and testing process throughout manufacturing. This assessment is required to obtain and maintain an import vendor ID number.
Affected Parties:
Non-food & beverage Target Owned Brand and National Brand Vendors who have import vendor IDs
Description of Change/Update:
As the transition occurs from Target PSQR engineer-driven review to 3rd party review, please note the following:
BV will prioritize new import business partners and then begin working through renewal assessments for existing import business partners. Assessments will be required every two years. There will be an associated cost with the assessment ranging from $225 to $425, depending on the product categories produced. Additional Corrective Action Preventative Action (CAPA) plans after two will require an extra fee of $50 per CAPA. Initially, VCAT assessments will be processed via Excel/email before uploading to the BV platform. At a future date, all steps will be completed within the BV platform.The assessment will look and feel different for business partners who have completed the QPA. However, the intent of the assessment remains unchanged and focused on CPSC regulation and compliance.
BV will prioritize new import business partners. VCAT is required for all import business partners.POL and Target’s Vendor Process manual will soon be updated to outline the process flow. When completing assessments with BV, remember that they should be completed from a business partner/vendor perspective, not a single factory. All documentation provided to BV must be in English.
Companies who implement Comply PRO+ can instantly show due care to both the CPSC and Retailers as the framework is CPSIA-ready. Companies just have to implement their Product Safety and Quality processes and provide team members access to conduct compliance-related activities. Book a Demo today to see how you can soon create CPC and GCC Certificates from a Purchase Order using the CPC/GCC Generator.
Target Chooses Bureau Veritas (BV) to Process Quality Program Assessments for Import Business Partners
