How to become a licencee

How to become a RUGMARK Licencee (Exporter)

RUGMARK licence criteria

Any manufacturer/exporter, who wants to obtain a RUGMARK licence, has to meet the following criteria:

No employment of children younger than 14 years.
Exception: daughters, sons of a loom owner are accepted, if they also regularly attend school (certificate from the school required as proof).
Unannounced random inspections by RUGMARK inspectors may be made at any time.
All weavers are paid at least the minimum wages defined by the national laws.
Contribution to the foundations of 0.25% of the export value as licence fees. These funds are used to cover all expenses for the inspection system as well as for the labels.

Procedure to become a licencee:

The exporter supplies a complete lists of his/her looms to RUGMARK und permits access and a pre-check by RUGMARK inspectors. If this check is successful the exporter will be given a Rugmark licence.

Procedure to issue labels:
Only RUGMARK licensees have the right to obtain RUGMARK labels. The licencee will provide details of his purchase orders from European or American importers, along with the information when and on which looms the order will be produced. In this way RUGMARK has the possibility to check the carpets under production.

If the random checks are successful the licencee will be given a label with a serial number for each produced carpet in the purchase order before shipment. All information, as to size, design, colour, loom number and date of export are filed by the RUGMARK Foundation. This procedure enables the European or American RUGMARK offices to trace the carpets back to its very place of manufacture.

Carpets produced for stock by a licensed exporter may not be labelled.