Certification Notice
Founded in 2006, B Lab is a non-profit organization and the owner of the “Certified B Corporation” trademark, which it licenses to for-profit companies (“B Corps”) that meet B Lab’s criteria for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Lab and its affiliates are the sole entities responsible for licensing the “Certified B Corporation” trademark.
To become a B Corp, a company must complete an assessment created by B Lab, known as the B Impact Assessment (“BIA”), and have its results verified by B Lab. The BIA evaluates a company's performance across various categories, including governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. B Lab’s goal through the BIA (and its broader verification process) is to measure a company's overall social and environmental impact according to criteria specifically developed by B Lab. The assessment and verification process typically takes at least 12 months and B Corps are required to repeat the process every three years.
Only upon successfully obtaining at least 80 points in the BIA may a company use the following trademark identifying it as a B Corp:
The “Certified B Corporation” trademark is exclusively licensed to companies that have successfully completed the BIA assessment and verification process. B Lab and its affiliates are the sole entities responsible for licensing the “Certified B Corporation” trademark.
The BIA uses criteria approved by B Lab’s Standards Advisory Council, which is a multi-stakeholder group composed of members from around the world with specific expertise in responsible and sustainable business. The BIA is (a) independent of harmonized or international standards and (b) not specifically endorsed or authorized by any government or international authority. B Lab does not serve as a “national accreditation body” and is not recognized as a “conformity assessment body” under EU Regulation No. 765/2008, as it has not pursued an “accreditation certificate” under Article 5 of said Regulation. Additionally, B Lab is not classified as a national, European, or international standardisation body in accordance with EU Regulation No. 1025/2012. BIA’s criteria do not align with ISO standards or those of other international accreditation bodies. As a result, companies using the Certified B Corporation trademark and persons encountering companies using such trademark should be aware that the ability to use the “Certified B Corporation” trademark means that the company has merely satisfied B Lab’s criteria formalized in the BIA, but these criteria may not be in line with those recognized by international or governmental authorities. Questions concerning the BIA can be answered by contacting B Lab if the answers are not readily available through its extensive website and knowledge base.