NSF International, which came into being in the U.S.A. as the National Sanitation Foundation, is the main global organization in the inspection and certification sector of products and materials destined to come into contact with foodstuffs and drinking water. The seal of quality NSF, synonym of public health, is globally recognized for its high standard of quality of the approved products, so increasing customer confidence regarding the purchase of the product.

The NSF/ANSI 61 standard specifically refers to the certification of systems and components used in the supply of drinking water. This standard is sufficient to certify full correspondence to U.S. requirements regarding drinking water.

The NSF/ANSI 61 Standard defines the minimum requirements for contaminating substances and impurities that may be released into drinking water indirectly from products, components and materials used in the adduction system of drinking water.

In 1999, in order to help this sector of the Industry demonstrate the suitability of the use of their products, the French health authorities developed a system to certify the sanitary conformity denominated ACS (Attestation de conformité sanitaire). This system allows the evaluation of the suitability of a product to come into contact with water destined for human consumption, according to the French decree of May 29th 1997, and subsequent amendments. The decree is applicable to plastic material objects as well as accessories containing at least one plastic component in contact with drinking water.

The conditions for obtaining the ACS are very similar to those defined in the EAS (European Acceptance Scheme), project, the future harmonised system which is currently under preparation by the European Commission.

ACS, issued by a laboratory authorized by the French health service, enables the evaluation of the suitability of a material or object which comes into contact with drinking water through rigorous screening of the formulation in addition to the execution of strict tests on the moulded article.

The WRAS approval is mandatory for materials and/or components to be used for drinking water transportation in the UK.

The main targets to achieve this certification are based on the British Standard BS6920:2000 that sets the rules and the test methods to evaluate the materials in order to assess their effect on organoleptic (such as taste, odour and colour) and chemical characteristics of waters intended for human consumption.

Furthermore, cytotoxicity and microbial growth are assessed to avoid any chance of contamination.
The above mentioned tests are carried out by laboratories which have accredited for testing to BS6920 using the procedures of ISO17025 such as (WRc-NSF Ltd.), and have been developed to accurately replicate the condition of use that a material meets during its life cycle.

The KTW-BWGL certification replaces previous regulations on the German market and this certificate has become a mandatory requirement for the sale of any product in contact with drinking water from 21 March 2021.

Customers interested in obtaining this certification can select products that have been successfully tested according to EN 16421 or according to the W270 standard up to 5 years after the analysis report has been issued.

For any further information on this subject, we recommend consulting the official page of the national authority responsible for drinking water safety in Germany.