WRAP certification for production facilities that can show responsible practice.

What it is

What is WRAP and what is it used for?

WRAP, short for Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production, runs a certification programme for production facilities. The programme is built on the WRAP 12 Principles, and WRAP publishes a Production Facility Handbook for facilities and an Auditors' Handbook for the people who audit them.

Buyers use WRAP certification to qualify suppliers on workplace practice without auditing every factory themselves. For the facility, the certificate is only the visible part: what matters is whether pay, hours, safety and workers' treatment are managed every day, with records to show it.

Current version. WRAP has published updates to its certification programme, and the version of the Principles and handbooks that applies to your facility is confirmed with WRAP's current documents at the start of the programme.

Who it is for

Who needs WRAP certification?

Facilities come to Sterling for WRAP from three starting points:

• A buyer asks for WRAP certification. The order or the next season depends on a certificate the buyer accepts.
• Your last audit raised findings. Wages, working hours, fire safety or records failed, and the next audit must show they are fixed.
• You face several social audits a year. Buyers ask for different programmes, and one well-run system answers all of them.

Certification lasts when management owns it. Practices written only for audit day tend to fail the next audit.

Requirements

What are the main WRAP requirements?

WRAP certification is assessed against the WRAP 12 Principles; the individual principle titles are confirmed against WRAP's current document, so the list below shows what Sterling's work covers.

• Legal compliance: a register of the labour, workplace and environmental laws that apply where the facility operates.
• Employment practices: recruitment, age verification, wages, working hours and benefits, with records that reconcile.
• Treatment of workers: policies against harassment, abuse and discrimination, and a grievance channel workers trust.
• Health and safety: fire safety, machine safety, first aid and a safe working environment, checked routinely.
• Environment, customs and security: environmental controls, customs compliance and the security of shipments.
• Management system: responsibility, training, internal audit and corrective action that keep the practices in place.

Your engagement

What your WRAP engagement includes

One team takes you from the first gap assessment to certification, under one all-inclusive proposal.

• Gap assessment and plan

  The facility, workforce and buyer requirements in scope, with owners and dates agreed before work starts.

• Policies, procedures and records

  Employment, safety, environmental and security controls, built with your management and HR teams.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Your social compliance records run in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Internal audit and management review

  Conducted or facilitated as agreed, with findings closed before the WRAP audit.

• Certification readiness and support

  Preparation for the WRAP audit and support until certification is granted.

Certification decisions remain with WRAP under its certification programme.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with WRAP

• amfori BSCIamfori BSCI audit preparation for producers: gap assessment across the 13 performance areas, remediation, worker-facing evidence and support from Sterling.
• Better Cotton (BCI)Better Cotton (BCI) Chain of Custody certification for textile suppliers: stock and claim controls, reconciled records, training and audit readiness.
• BRCGS Packaging MaterialsBRCGS Packaging Materials certification explained: Issue 7, GFSI recognition, who asks for it and how Sterling prepares packaging sites for the audit.
• CSDDDCSDDD compliance and requirements after Omnibus I: scoping, risk-based due diligence, complaints, monitoring and the 2029 start, delivered in one all-inclusive proposal.
• EN 71 / ASTM F963EN 71 and ASTM F963 toy safety compliance for manufacturers: product and market mapping, material control, test planning and records that keep lots conforming.
• FairtradeFairtrade certification and requirements: which Fairtrade International standards apply, FLOCERT's audit, cost and timing, and how Sterling prepares you.