BRC Agents and Brokers Standard

BRC Agents and Brokers Standard

The BRC Global Standard for Agents and Brokers was first introduced in 2014. It extends the BRCGS family of food safety schemes to operators that act as intermediaries in the food, packaging, and distribution chain, making this category a recognised part of the audited supply chain.

Agents, brokers, and commission intermediaries do not always hold title to the product but they still affect traceability and risk. Bringing this category into the BRCGS family gives traders, brand owners, and retailers an audited reference for the intermediate step in the chain.

Purpose of the Standard

The standard defines the operational criteria an agent or broker must meet to support product safety, quality, legal compliance, and consumer protection. It focuses on due diligence on suppliers, product traceability, and the agent's own management system.

Customer Trust and Supply Chain Confidence

Agents and brokers sit at a critical point in the supply chain. A BRCGS certificate for an agent gives the downstream customer evidence that the intermediary has verified supplier controls, holds documented traceability, and operates under a recognised management system. The certificate is a reference that brand owners and retailers look for when approving intermediaries.

Key Requirements

The standard's requirements cover supplier approval and performance monitoring, product risk assessment, traceability through the intermediary, the internal audit programme, corrective action handling, and staff competence. Document control and recall procedures are audited against the same rigour applied to manufacturers in the BRCGS Food Safety scheme.

How Sistem Patent Kalite Helps

Our consultancy runs BRCGS Agents and Brokers projects as full engagements, from gap analysis through documentation, internal audit, and Stage 2 certification audit. For agents and brokers already running BRCGS or ISO 9001, we focus on the scheme-specific clauses, so the audit preparation is efficient and the certificate is issued on the first attempt.

For more information on the BRCGS Agents and Brokers standard, contact Sistem Patent Kalite.