Consumers are increasingly aware of the health and safety and environmental implications of the processes involved in the manufacture of textiles and footwear. In response, more and more regulations and restrictions on the use of harmful substances are being enforced to reduce their discharge into the environment.
These industries are reliant on the use of multiple different chemical formulations and, therefore, it is important for manufacturers to have a simple and transparent system for understanding what chemicals are being used to ensure regulatory compliance.

Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), an industry-led collaboration with the intent to eliminate hazardous chemical use in the supply chain, developed a Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL) Conformance Guidance document in 2017.

It outlines the way in which chemical suppliers can demonstrate conformance, as well as how brands can find recognized and credible processes which provide an indication that a chemical formulation conforms with the ZDHC MRSL. In 2019, ZDHC updated MRSL Conformance to Version 1.1, which is based on the ZDHC MRSL V2.0.

With the minor adjustment in some MRSLrequirements, ZDHC updated the content of ZDHC MRSL V2.0 in Dec 2020 and released the latest version of ZDHC Conformance Guidance V1.2 as well to phase-out the information of Level 0 with the modification of recommended test in Smart Testing Grid.

SGS Chemical MRSL Conformance Certification Scheme is a simple and effective process for verifying that supplied chemical formulations conform to ZDHC MRSL Conformance Level 1.