How to ask a supplier for evidence

Collecting evidence is the longest stage of the whole job. Suppliers answer in weeks rather than hours, and the first letter usually lands with a sales rep who has never seen a request like it. A well-written request cuts that path in half.

1. Generate the letter in the app#

Every material with the status Evidence partial or Evidence missing has a “Send a request to the supplier” button. The app assembles the text from data it already holds:

• the material name and your item code, if you entered one,
• the supplier name,
• the list of missing items — specifically which elements or which information is absent,
• the legal basis: Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40.

You can copy the text to your clipboard or download it as a file and send it from your own mailbox.

2. Send it to the right person#

A sales rep rarely holds these documents. The quality department does, or a process engineer, or a compliance team. The most effective route is to send the letter to your sales contact, ask them to pass it to quality, and add a sentence about the deadline.

3. Ask for specifics, not for “documentation”#

A request for “PPWR documentation” comes back with a product catalogue. A request for four items comes back with four items:

4. Record the request in the app#

Once you have sent it, click “Mark as sent” and enter the date. That date later feeds the reasoning behind a conditional declaration: “request for documentation sent 12.05.2026, no reply as at the date of issue”. At an inspection, that is the difference between a company that lacks something and a company that asked for it and documented the fact.

5. When a supplier refuses or goes quiet#

Refusals are most common on imports from outside the EU — the supplier is not subject to the Regulation and sees no reason to issue anything. You then have three routes:

1. Commission a test of the material at a laboratory. The cost is real, but the evidence is then yours and depends on nobody's goodwill.
2. Change supplier to one that holds the documents. On the next order that is a negotiating point, not a request.
3. Issue a conditional declaration with the gap recorded, and come back to it when the situation changes.

6. When the evidence arrives#

Upload the file against the same material. The status changes to Evidence confirmed, and the app shows which declarations can now be issued as full. A new version of the document does not cost a second time — versioning a declaration is included in the price of the document.