Compliance Testing Consulting

Ask three testing houses and you might get 3 different lists of applicable tests since each one interprets regulations in its own way.

They tend to remain on the “safe side” and assume that you are selling your product in a way that calls for mandatory tests. In some cases, you may want to override that and get to some ‘important but voluntary’ tests only once your order quantity picks up.

In some cases, important elements that could be taken into consideration (e.g. certifications of certain materials, the fact that a key component comes from an international manufacturer…) are ignored. However, a test plan should be guided both by applicable requirements and a risk analysis.
Conversely, sometimes they assume the risk is low and they don’t suggest certain tests (a typical example is RoHS, which is not always tested but really should be tested in some circumstances).

If your order includes several SKUs that are different but share some materials and/or colors, setting up a ‘reasonable’ testing plan (rather than testing every single SKU fully) can often cut costs by more than half while keeping risks down.
Similarly, testing for high-risk substances usually makes more sense than testing all the components.

If your product is out of the ordinary or is across 2 sensitive categories (e.g. food contact and for children), they might forget some critical standards. This is a common issue due to the way they manage their databases.

Many laws/regulations call for testing and collecting data from those tests but don’t mention that a third-party lab, let alone an accredited one, needs to be used.
In some cases, getting a test report from your supplier might be sufficient. Or using a cheaper, even unaccredited, lab. But, if you ask a testing house for a quotation, of course, they will quote for handling all the tests themselves.