Award Criteria
Regulatory compliance is the starting point. Gold Standard Quality Awards recognises products with verified evidence of performance beyond the requirements of their target market.
All applicable requirements
The exact model, intended use and target market define the regulatory baseline. Every applicable mandatory requirement must be satisfied.
A measurable margin
At least one relevant core indicator must exceed its applicable regulatory threshold. The comparison must use a compatible method, conditions and unit, with a defensible margin.
Verifiable evidence
Complete reports, laboratory qualifications and report authenticity are checked together. A well-known brand without the evidence does not qualify.
Like-for-like Comparison
The assessment identifies the applicable legal instrument, edition, clause and limit before comparing the reported result. Test method, sample configuration, preconditioning, units and decision rule must match. Measurement uncertainty is considered where it affects the conclusion. Where a requirement is qualitative, a pass alone cannot be expressed as a percentage improvement. A lower measured value is better only where the relevant requirement defines it that way.