CSE certification

CSE – Certified Sustainable Economics

The sustainability seal for organic companies and sustainable organizations

The CSE certification is a cross-industry sustainability certification for companies and sustainability-oriented organizations.

CSE stands for Certified Sustainable Economics.

The CSE seal is a seal of quality for products from a certified sustainable company. The CSE standard is regularly reviewed and is constantly evolving.

to the CSE standard

What CSE offers

A standard for holistic corporate sustainability

The CSE standard offers:

comprehensive framework for ecological, social and economic sustainability
Requirements for climate-neutral business
Support in the development of individual sustainability strategies
Covering all areas of the company: from resource management to finance
Criteria that go beyond the minimum legal requirements
Guidelines for transparent communication of sustainability performance
A protected seal for labeling certified companies and products.

CSE-certified companies actively contribute to the transformation towards a more sustainable economy. The standard provides both companies and consumers with guidance for measurable progress towards sustainability.

Industry

CSE currently offers criteria for these sectors

Organic food
Natural cosmetics
Ecological detergents and cleaning agents
Natural products

Products from a circular economy (e.g. recycled plastic)
Trade
Service providers
Banks

Your sector is not yet listed here and you would like CSE? Then simply get in touch with us.

Advantages

Your advantages with CSE

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Holistic certification

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Possibility of differentiation from less sustainable/non-sustainable companies

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Improving sustainability performance

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Traceability within the value chain or to business partners

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Communicating sustainability performance to the outside world with the CSE seal Labeling your products at the PoS

Criteria

Holistic N-certification

CSE-certified companies comply with the CSE standard. Compliance with the CSE criteria is verified in annual audits by an accredited certification body.

The CSE standard comprises the categories shown in the image. The CSE seal serves as a decision-making aid for consumers at the PoS. The categories of the standard are listed on the CSE certificate. This allows you to present your sustainability performance in a condensed form on one page.

CSE is a comprehensive and holistic N-certification. Accordingly, the required CSE criteria must be fulfilled in all of the following categories. This is the only way to achieve certification.

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Business model QM system

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Environmental protection

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Finance

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Working world

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Supply chain

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Market and ethics

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Sustainability goals

Brands & Company

CSE-certified companies

The following committed companies are already certified and use the CSE certification to make their outstanding pioneering achievements in sustainable business visible and thus clearly position themselves.

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Certification process

The certification process at a glance

Step 1

Contacting and concluding a contract with GfaW and the certification body

Step 2

Receiving access data and logging in to STAR

Step 3

Processing the questions in the STAR

Depending on how your company is set up, this may mean introducing a sustainability management system first. The STAR contains supporting sample templates for a QMH, controlling procedures, CIP and management reviews.

Step 4

Initial audit

Auditability check of the management system and the CSE criteria with the help of STAR

Step 5

Receipt of the certificate

The certificate is issued after a successful examination and is valid for 3 years, provided that the surveillance audits have been passed.

Step 6

Annual monitoring audits

The company uses surveillance audits to verify conformity with the standard during the 3-year validity period of the certificate.

Step 6

Recertification

The scope of the recertification audit corresponds to that of an initial audit. The management system and all CSE criteria are checked again. If conformity is confirmed, the company receives another certificate valid for 3 years.

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Please note

The prerequisite for the evaluation of the products is all information about the raw materials described in the criteria of the standard. The positive list of INCIs, which has been assessed as compliant by the certification body, is merely a guide.

It is therefore not guaranteed that your raw materials comply with the standard just because they contain the INCIs listed on the positive list!

In the event of deviations from the NCP standard, a period of time is granted to rectify these, depending on the severity. This can be between 4 and 12 months. If the deviations have not been rectified by the end of this period, conformity with the NCP no longer exists, the certificate becomes invalid and the products may no longer be labeled with the seal. The certification bodies approved by the NCP are accredited for the EU Organic Regulation in accordance with ISO 17065 and have many years of experience in the certification of ethically oriented standards in the industry.

Certification bodies

Recognized certification bodies

Certification bodies that wish to certify companies according to the CSE standard must meet defined, standardized requirements. You can find information on the certification process here.

You are a certification body, work in accordance with ISO 17065, are accredited for the EU Eco Regulation in accordance with ISO 17065 and are interested in recognition for CSE certification? Then get in touch with us.

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Costs

Costs of certification

The costs of the CSE certification are divided into 3 items:

Costs by the certification body according to expenditure – please obtain a quote from EcoControl or the testing company.
Costs incurred by the standard setter GfaW for the use of the CSE mark and the CSE-STAR data collection tool for certification by number of full-time equivalents.
Internal costs of your company (variable depending on criteria already fulfilled, documentation effort and consulting requirements).

In order to obtain an exact cost estimate, we recommend that you contact us and the certification body directly and request an individual quote. This will enable you to calculate the costs precisely and include them in your budget planning.

to the prices

depending on the size

Costs for the standard provider

between EUR 2500 and approx. EUR 8000 depending on the number of full-time positions

Billing by time

At the certification body
Depending on the size of the company, the duration of the audit. Comparative values from an ISO 9001 certification can be used as a rough guide.

Sustainability Tool for Assessment and Reporting

STAR: Certification tool and sustainability reports

In order to make the certification process feasible, efficient and clear, we have developed the online tool STAR(Sustainability Toolfor Assessmentand Reporting), which supports companies on the path to certification.

CSE goes hand in hand with the use of our STAR (Sustainability Tool for Assessment and Reporting) software tool for implementing, recording and evaluating sustainability performance.