Published standard
CCB Verification Standard v2.0
The rules we work to when we check a Chinese supplier for you: what each level of check covers, the evidence behind a finding, what a result means, how long it stays current, and what we do not claim.
What a CCB check means
- Our team in the UK, our own staff in China, or an inspection company appointed for you and named in the report, examined the evidence listed below for that level and recorded what they found, with the date and the source of each finding.
- Every finding carries a status, so you can see what was confirmed, what was read only on the face of a document, and what is still unverified.
- Every report ends in one of three verdicts, with the reason for it.
- The check was paid for by the buyer. On your order we take no commission, rebate or kickback from the factory.
What it does not mean
- It is not a certificate, a licence or an accreditation. We are not a certification body or an accredited inspection body, and a CCB check does not replace one where your customer, your insurer or the law requires it.
- It does not show that a product meets UK or other legal requirements. That needs the right test reports and a Declaration of Conformity for the exact model.
- It is not a guarantee that the supplier will perform, or that units outside the sample are free of defects.
- It describes what we saw on the day, in the documents we were given. Companies, factories and production change.
Three levels of check
Each level builds on the one before. Most buyers start with a desk check before paying a deposit, add a factory audit before a first meaningful order, and inspect each shipment before it leaves the factory.
Level 1 Desk check
- The question it answers
- Is this a real, registered company, and is it the company you would pay?
- How it is done
- A check of the company and its documents, by our team in the UK and our staff in China, without a factory visit.
- Price
- From £195 per supplier, plus VAT, paid before the check starts
- Report
- Within 3 working days of payment; if the supplier is slow to send its documents, the 3 days count from when they arrive
- Stays current for
- 6 months
The six checks
| 1 Business licence and register status | Legal Chinese name, unified social credit code, registered address, business scope, founding date and operating status, compared with the national enterprise credit register. Any listing for abnormal operation or administrative penalties is noted. |
|---|---|
| 2 The same company four ways | The trade name on the website and emails, the legal name on the licence, the seller on the quote or proforma invoice, the exporter and the bank beneficiary. The supplier must explain any difference in writing. Bank details are confirmed by phoning a number found independently, never one taken from the email. |
| 3 Export status | Customs import and export registration and credit rating, looked up by credit code, and which company issues the export invoice. |
| 4 Certificates and test reports | Holder, scope, validity and number, checked against the issuer's public register or the laboratory's own report-verification page where one exists; otherwise recorded as checked on its face only. Expired certificates, the wrong holder or the wrong scope are flagged. |
| 5 Public footprint | Domain age, website content, email domain against website, trade-platform store age and badges, trade-fair exhibitor records, and searches for complaints in Chinese and English. |
| 6 Claims against evidence | Capacity, customers, cost savings and lead times, each marked as evidenced or unverified. |
Evidence we need
- A photo or scan of the business licence (营业执照).
- The quote or proforma invoice, and the payment details the supplier gave, ideally on letterhead with the company chop.
- Copies of the certificates and test reports the supplier relies on.
- Optional: a short video walk-round showing the licence on the wall, machine nameplates and current production.
Result categories
Each finding: Checked, Resolved, On their face, Note, Weak, Unverified or Problem. Overall: Proceed, Proceed with conditions or Stop.
What you receive
A written report with a status and evidence for each finding, a verdict, and the questions to put to the supplier and the documents to ask for before paying.
Level 2 Factory audit
- The question it answers
- Does the factory exist, is it run by the company we checked, and can it make your product to your standard and volume?
- How it is done
- A visit by our own staff in China, normally one day on site, to a scope agreed with you first. It starts from the Level 1 identity record; if there is none, we agree first whether to include a desk check.
- Price
- From £395 a visit (one day on site), plus VAT; the final price depends on location and scope and is confirmed before we start
- Report
- Written report usually within 48 hours of the visit
- Stays current for
- 12 months
What our staff see and photograph
| 1 Identity on site | The business licence on the wall, the gate sign and the company name on documents, matched with the desk-check record, and the address of the site. |
|---|---|
| 2 Factory or trading company | Which processes for your product are done on site, which are subcontracted, and to whom if the factory will say. |
| 3 Production lines | The lines and work areas used for your product, whether they were running at the visit, and what they were making. |
| 4 Machines | Key machines counted and their nameplates photographed: maker, model, rating and year where shown. |
| 5 Capacity indicators | Workers on the line, shift pattern, output counted over a timed period, work in progress and finished stock, set against the capacity the factory claims. |
| 6 Quality control | Incoming material checks, in-process checks, final inspection, defect records, measuring instruments and their calibration, and what happens to a rejected batch. |
| 7 Sample pull | Where agreed, units taken at random by our staff from production or finished stock, photographed and sealed or sent to you, so the sample you judge is not one the factory chose. |
| 8 Certificates on site | The originals displayed or shown, compared with the copies from the desk check. |
| 9 Working conditions, as observed | Fire exits, machine guarding and protective equipment, recorded as observations only. This is not a social audit; one can be arranged with an accredited audit firm. |
Evidence we need
- Dated photos of each item above, numbered in a photo log, with the licence, gate sign and nameplates legible.
- Short videos of the lines running.
- Photos of quality records and calibration labels, where the factory allows.
- The role of the factory contact who hosted the visit.
Result categories
Each finding: Checked, Resolved, On their face, Note, Weak, Unverified or Problem. Overall: Proceed, Proceed with conditions or Stop.
What you receive
A written report with a status for each finding, a photo log, a verdict, and the conditions to meet before a first order.
Level 3 Pre-shipment inspection
- The question it answers
- Does this shipment match your approved sample and specification?
- How it is done
- An inspection of finished, packed goods at the factory before they ship, against your approved sample and specification, by our staff or by an independent inspection company if you require one. You approve the release of the shipment.
- Price
- From £275 per inspector-day (Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu), plus VAT; the final price depends on location, product and scope and is confirmed before we start
- Report
- Photo report usually within 24 hours of the inspection
- Stays current for
- That shipment only
What we check
| 1 Sampling (AQL) | Units drawn at random under ISO 2859-1 (the same tables as ANSI/ASQ Z1.4): single sampling, normal inspection, general inspection level II unless you agree level I or III. The acceptable quality limits are the ones in your order. If none were agreed, we propose zero critical defects, AQL 2.5 for major and AQL 4.0 for minor defects: common practice for consumer goods, not a rule of the standard. |
|---|---|
| 2 Defect classification | Critical: unsafe, or breaks a legal requirement. Major: likely to cause failure, or makes the unit unsaleable or noticeably less usable. Minor: a departure from the specification that does not affect use or sale. Each defective unit is counted once, in its most serious class. |
| 3 Quantity and readiness | Quantity made and packed, against the order. Inspection normally takes place when production is complete and at least 80% of the goods are packed. |
| 4 Conformity with sample and specification | Materials, colour, finish, workmanship and assembly against the approved sample and the specification. |
| 5 Measurements and function | Dimensions and weights measured against tolerance, and the on-site function tests agreed in advance. |
| 6 Packing | Inner and outer packaging, carton count, carton dimensions and gross weight against the packing list. |
| 7 Labelling and marking | Product marking, labels, barcodes (scanned), warnings and instructions, importer name and address where required, and shipping marks on the cartons, against your instructions. |
| 8 Photos | The goods, packing, labels, measurements and every defect found. |
Evidence we need
- Your approved sample, or photos of it and the specification it was approved against.
- The purchase order, packing list and any labelling instructions.
- The acceptable quality limits and any function tests you want, agreed before the inspection day.
- Access to the finished, packed goods.
Result categories
Each check: Pass, Fail or Pending. Each defect class: Accept or Reject under the sampling plan. Overall: Proceed, Proceed with conditions or Stop; you decide whether the shipment is released.
What you receive
A photo report with the sampling plan, Accept or Reject for each defect class, every defect found, a verdict, and what must happen before release.
Sample pre-shipment inspection report →AQL sampling calculator →
What each finding status means
Desk checks and factory audits give each finding one of these statuses.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Checked | Confirmed against an independent source: a public register, the issuer, or what our staff saw on site. |
| Resolved | A discrepancy was found, and the supplier explained it in writing with evidence that fits. |
| On their face | Read from the document supplied, with nothing found that contradicts it, but not confirmed with the issuer or a public register. |
| Note | A fact you should know that is not in itself a problem. |
| Weak | Some evidence exists but it is thin, so the point should be followed up. |
| Unverified | A claim with no evidence yet. |
| Problem | Evidence contradicts what the supplier says, or a requirement is not met. |
Pre-shipment inspections record each check as Pass, Fail or Pending (for example while waiting for a correction or a test result), and each defect class as Accept or Reject under the sampling plan.
The three verdicts
| Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Proceed | Nothing found that should stop you going ahead at this stage. |
| Proceed with conditions | Go ahead once the listed conditions are met, for example a certificate confirmed with its issuer, or cartons relabelled before loading. |
| Stop | Something should stop you paying, ordering or shipping until it is resolved, such as a different company receiving the money, or a shipment that fails its sampling plan. |
For an inspection, the verdict is our recommendation; the decision to release the shipment is yours.
How long a result stays current
A result describes the company or the goods at the time of the check. We treat it as current for the periods below, and as out of date sooner if something material changes.
| Level | Current for | Out of date sooner if |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 · Desk check | 6 months | The legal name, bank beneficiary, legal representative or register status changes. |
| Level 2 · Factory audit | 12 months | Production moves to another site, ownership changes, or processes for your product are subcontracted. |
| Level 3 · Pre-shipment inspection | That shipment only | It covers the lot inspected. Each new shipment needs its own inspection. |
Independence rules
- Checks are paid for by the buyer. On your order we are paid only by you: no rebates, commission or kickbacks from factories.
- If a factory ever pays us to check itself, that report says so on its first page, is kept separate from reports for buyers, and never changes a finding or a verdict we give a buyer.
- Every report states who carried out the check, whether our own staff or an outside inspection company, and the scope agreed before it started.
- If we have bought from the same factory for other buyers, the report says so.
- Findings are not negotiated with the supplier. A supplier may correct a fact with evidence, and the report records the correction.
Limits
- We are not ISO-accredited, not an accredited inspection body and not a testing, inspection and certification company. We do not issue certificates or certification marks.
- We do not test products in a laboratory. Laboratory testing is arranged with a qualified lab, for the lab's fee at cost plus 15% handling.
- A factory audit records what our staff observe about working conditions but is not a social audit. SMETA or BSCI audits are arranged with an accredited audit firm, and you receive its report.
- Sampling is designed to detect defects at the agreed quality limit; units outside the sample can still be defective.
- Chinese register look-ups depend on what the registers show on the day. Where a source is unavailable, the report says so.
- A check reduces risk. It is not a guarantee of the supplier's performance.
Sample reports
The desk-check sample is based on a real check with the names removed. The factory audit and inspection samples use a fictional factory to show the format.
- Sample desk-check report (Level 1)
- Sample factory audit report (Level 2)
- Sample pre-shipment inspection report (Level 3)
Version and changes
We change this standard only by publishing a new version with a changelog. Each report names the version it was carried out under.
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2.0 | 14 October 2026 | First published version. |
| 1.0 | 14 October 2026 | Internal draft for review; not published. |