Société Générale de Surveillance

Société Générale de Surveillance (currently known as SGS S.A.), together with its subsidiaries and joint ventures, provide inspection, verification, testing and certification services. With more than 48,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

Originally founded in 1878 in Rouen, France as French grain shipment inspection house, the Company was registered in Geneva as Société Générale de Surveillance in 1911.

Its main competitors are the French company Bureau Veritas and the Swiss company Cotecna.Fact|date=October 2008

The core services offered by SGS can be divided into four categories:

Inspection Services. SGS inspects and verifies the quantity, weight and quality of traded goods.

Testing Services. SGS tests product quality and performance against various health, safety and regulatory standards.

Certification Services. SGS certifies that products, systems or services meet the requirements of standards set by governments (e.g. GOST R), standardisation bodies (e.g.ISO 9000) or by SGS customers. SGS also develops and certifies its own standards.

Verification Services:SGS verification services ensure that products and services comply with global standards and local regulations.

Divisions

SGS is divided into different divisions that provide services to specific industries:

*Agriculture
*Automotive
*Consumer Testing
*Environment
*Governments and Institutions
*Industry
*Life Science
*Minerals
*Environment
*Oil, Gas and Chemicals
*Systems and Services

External links

* [http://www.sgs.com SGS official website]