Standardization News

A new ASTM International standard aims to describe minimum requirements for developing and maintaining a product complaint system for finished cannabis products.

“The guide includes requirements that would ensure all complaints are received, processed, investigated, and documented,” according to Antoinette Duncan, ASTM International member and quality director of CannaSafe. “The requirements would also ensure that appropriate corrective and preventive actions are implemented in a timely manner.”

The new guide will be useful to organizations engaged in the cultivation, processing, testing, packaging and labeling, storage, distribution, and transportation of cannabis products intended for human and animal consumption, including those derived from hemp. Duncan notes the guide could also be used by regulatory bodies to set rules on how cannabis product complaints should be handled and processed.

The guide (soon to be published as D8286) was developed by ASTM International’s cannabis committee (D37).

Duncan also notes that a product complaint system is one part of the overall Quality Management System (QMS) that both processors/manufacturers and laboratories should have in place. Additional standards that will provide guidance on other aspects of the QMS are currently under development. 

ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards. Become a Member of ASTM. The next meeting of ASTM International’s committee on cannabis is Feb 2-4, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.