This article explains the subscription costs for Chemical Formulators on the ZDHC Gateway, including what has changed with the relaunch and how the tiered pricing model works.

01/ Introduction

With the relaunch of the ZDHC Gateway, you no longer need a paid subscription to access the platform and create products. Account access and product creation are now free. You only pay when you are ready to publish your products. This gives you time to build your product portfolio without upfront costs.

Registering as a Formulator on the ZDHC Gateway is free. A paid annual subscription is required only when you want to publish your products and make them visible to Brands, Suppliers, and other ZDHC Gateway users. Subscriptions follow a tiered pricing model based on the number of products you intend to publish within a subscription year. All subscription fees are billed annually in Euros.

02/ What does the subscription include?

Without a subscription, you can create products and build your product portfolio on the ZDHC Gateway at no cost. Once you subscribe, you can:

• Publish products publicly, making them searchable to Brands and Suppliers.
• Assign products to ZDHC Approved MRSL Certifiers for certification.
• Display your products' ZDHC MRSL conformance (Level 1, 2, or 3) publicly.

Note: ZDHC does not certify products. Certification is carried out by ZDHC Approved MRSL Certifiers. Your subscription allows you to initiate and manage this process through the ZDHC Gateway.

03/ Subscription tiers

Your tier is determined by the number of ZDHC MRSL conformant products you intend to publish within the subscription year. You select your tier during the payment process.

Tip: You can upload an unlimited number of products to the ZDHC Gateway regardless of your tier. Your tier only determines how many products you can publish (make visible).

Note: VAT is calculated separately on every invoice, based on your organisation's country of registration. Depending on your payment method, additional bank transfer or administration fees may apply.

04/ ZDHC Signatories

If your organisation is a ZDHC Value Chain Affiliate (Signatory), your ZDHC Gateway subscription is included in your Signatory membership. You do not pay an additional access fee. However, you still need to activate a subscription each year. You will receive a voucher code to apply during checkout to bring your subscription cost to €0.

05/ Upgrading your subscription

You can upgrade your subscription tier at any point during your active subscription period. The additional cost is calculated on a pro-rata basis for the remaining months.

Example: You subscribe to Tier 1 (€1,750/year) in January. In July — six months into your subscription — you need to publish more than 99 products and upgrade to Tier 2 (€3,950/year). You pay the pro-rata difference for the remaining six months: (€3,950 − €1,750) ÷ 12 × 6 = €1,100.

Note: Downgrading your subscription tier is not possible during an active subscription period. You can select a lower tier when renewing at the end of your subscription year.

06/ Tips & Notes

Tip: Use your free access period to upload and prepare your full product portfolio before purchasing a subscription. This way, you can publish immediately once your subscription is active.

Note: Products with an expired ZDHC MRSL conformance certification can remain visible on the platform for up to 8 weeks (40 business days), marked as Expired. This gives you time to recertify before the product is removed from public view.