Product compliance refers to the laws, regulations, standards, and requirements that products must satisfy before they can be manufactured, sold, imported, or distributed in a particular market.

Requirements can cover areas such as product safety, chemicals and materials, labeling, packaging, environmental requirements, electrical safety, and industry-specific regulations.

Supply chain compliance helps businesses identify and manage regulatory, operational, supplier, environmental, labor, and reputational risks across their supply networks.

Companies may need to understand not only their direct suppliers but also information about materials, components, manufacturing processes, and deeper tiers of the supply chain.

Supplier risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, monitoring, and addressing risks associated with suppliers and other third parties.

Risks can include financial instability, cybersecurity, operational disruption, regulatory violations, quality problems, geopolitical events, environmental issues, and labor or human-rights concerns.

Product compliance software helps organizations collect product and supplier information, track regulatory requirements, manage compliance documentation, assess materials and components, and maintain evidence that products meet applicable requirements.

Supply chain traceability is the ability to track products, materials, components, and their associated information through different stages of the supply chain.

Traceability can help organizations investigate quality issues, demonstrate regulatory compliance, identify sourcing risks, and respond to product or supplier incidents.

Responsible sourcing involves purchasing materials, products, and services while considering environmental, social, ethical, human-rights, and governance factors.

It can include supplier assessments, labor standards, conflict minerals, environmental impacts, and sustainability requirements.

The applicable regulations depend on the product, industry, and markets where the product is sold.

Examples can include REACH, RoHS, TSCA, Proposition 65, PFAS-related requirements, SCIP, packaging and extended producer responsibility requirements, as well as industry-specific product safety and labeling rules.

Assent, for example, currently provides product-compliance solutions covering REACH, RoHS, TSCA, PFAS, SCIP, Proposition 65, and EPR packaging requirements.

Companies can use supplier questionnaires, certifications, audits, contractual requirements, supplier portals, risk assessments, continuous monitoring, and compliance-management software.

The appropriate approach depends on supplier risk, industry, geography, regulatory requirements, and the complexity of the supply chain.

Supply chain resilience is an organization's ability to anticipate, withstand, respond to, and recover from disruptions affecting suppliers, logistics, manufacturing, or other parts of its supply network.

Supply-chain risk platforms increasingly focus on continuous monitoring rather than relying solely on periodic supplier assessments.

Important capabilities can include:

• Supplier onboarding

• Supplier risk assessments

• Continuous monitoring

• Product compliance databases

• Regulatory intelligence

• Material and substance tracking

• Audit management

• Certifications and documentation

• Corrective action management

• Supply-chain mapping

• Traceability

• Reporting and analytics

• ERP/PLM integrations

For example, Assent supports integrations with enterprise systems including SAP and PTC Windchill, allowing product-compliance information to connect with existing business systems.

Some supply-chain requirements are legally mandatory, while others arise from contracts, customer requirements, industry standards, or voluntary programs.

The applicable obligations depend on factors such as the company's location, products, suppliers, industry, and markets served.