Technical specifications: when they are needed and what they include

Technical specifications describe the requirements that your product meets: characteristics, control methods, acceptance rules, packaging, marking, storage conditions.

When TU are really needed

What TU consist of

Order of development

• Collect full data about the product: purpose, composition, characteristics
• Check that there is no existing standard that covers your product
• Define the parameters by which quality will be controlled
• Describe the control methods and the acceptance rules
• Approve the document and assign a designation
• If necessary, register it in the product catalog

How to fit the development of TU into the general launch schedule — in the article about launching a new product. Which assessment scheme will be needed next — in the review of schemes.

TU or an existing standard

The choice between your own document and a ready standard is made at the start, and it affects everything that follows — from the recipe to the name on the label.

A practical principle: if the product fits an existing standard, work under it, it is faster and clearer to the market. As soon as the recipe goes beyond the standard, the standard cannot be applied, and the name will have to be changed too.

What is checked first in TU

Technical specifications are read not only by you: they are studied by the certification body, by the laboratory and, for state registration, by an expert. They look at specific sections.

• Safety parameters are not lower than the requirements of the applicable regulations — this is a blocking item
• Parameters are worded in a measurable way: with numerical values and tolerances, not "within the norm"
• Control methods are specified with references to current standards for the methods
• Acceptance rules: what is controlled and how often
• Storage and transport conditions agree with the shelf life
• Marking requirements do not contradict the regulation
• The shelf life is justified, not just assigned

The most frequent correction is the second item. A wording that cannot be measured makes control impossible too: the laboratory does not know what to check.

Registration and rights to TU

Technical specifications are the developer's document, and there are property questions linked to it, which people think about late.

• Holder of the original. The one who owns the TU. If a contractor developed them, the right must pass to you under the contract.
• Registration in the catalog. It is not mandatory, but it gives a number and a confirmation of the date — useful in disputes and in work with retail chains.
• Transfer to another manufacturer. It is possible under a license agreement; without it a plant has no right to make products under your TU.
• Changes. They are made with a change notice, not by rewriting the file: it is important that everybody has one version.

A situation to avoid: the TU were developed by a contractor, the rights were not transferred, and a year later you change the manufacturer and find that the document does not belong to you.

When TU will have to be revised

• The recipe, composition or technology has changed
• New requirements have appeared in the applicable regulations
• A standard for a control method specified in the TU is cancelled or replaced
• The range has been extended: a new form of release or packing
• The shelf life has changed as a result of studies

The third item is treacherous: the TU themselves have not changed, but a reference inside them is out of date, and the laboratory tests by a document that no longer exists. It is worth checking that the references are current at least once a year. How TU fit into the general order of launching a product — in a separate article.