This article explains what happens when a product's certification expires, how the platform recalculates status, and what you need to do to maintain your product's published state.

01/ Introduction

Every ZDHC MRSL and Chemicals to Zero (CtZ) certification assigned to a product has an expiration date. When a certificate expires, the platform automatically recalculates the product's certification status. In some cases, a product may be automatically unpublished.

Note: Automatic unpublishing on certification expiry is a planned platform behaviour. If you notice a product has been unexpectedly unpublished, check the expiration dates on the Certificates tab.

02/ How expiration is handled: step by step

When a certificate expires, the platform runs the following logic:

Step 1 — Recalculate within the same certification body

For the certification body whose certificate has expired, the platform checks whether any other valid (non-expired) certificates from that same CB are still assigned to the product. If valid certificates remain, the platform recalculates the highest ZDHC MRSL level and the highest CtZ level still held from that CB.

Step 2 — Recalculate across all certification bodies

The platform then looks at all assigned certification bodies and takes the best (highest) valid score across all of them for both ZDHC MRSL and CtZ.

Step 3 — If no valid certificates remain

If no valid ZDHC MRSL certificate exists across any assigned certification body, the product loses its Accepted status. When this happens:

• The product is automatically unpublished.
• The product is no longer visible in search.
• The product status reverts from Published/Accepted to reflect the expired state.

Note: A complete expiry across all CBs is uncommon in normal circumstances. It is most likely to occur when a new ZDHC MRSL version is released, and all certificates tied to the previous ZDHC MRSL version expire simultaneously.

03/ What to do when a certification expires

There is currently no automated renewal workflow on the platform. To renew a certification:

1. Contact your certification body directly and arrange for them to assign a new certificate based on the current MRSL version.
2. Once the CB assigns the new certificate, the platform will recalculate your product's status automatically.
3. If the product was automatically unpublished, you can republish it once a valid certificate is in place. See How to publish a product.

Tip: Keep track of the expiration dates shown in your product portfolio. The Expiration Date column gives you an at-a-glance view of which products are approaching expiry so you can act before they lapse.

04/ MRSL and CTZ expiration — are they linked?

MRSL and CTZ certifications expire independently. A CTZ certificate expiring does not affect the product's MRSL status, and vice versa. However, because CTZ levels above Foundational (Progressive and Aspirational) require a valid Level 2 or Level 3 MRSL certificate from the same CB, if such an MRSL certificate expires and is not renewed, those CTZ certifications from that CB also become invalid.