4.02.2008 - 12:30pm ET

(CSRwire) LONDON & PARIS – April 2, 2008 - Intertek, the leading global provider of certification, Corporate Social Responsibility, quality and safety services to a wide range of global and local industries, today announces a new joint venture providing product development and supplier risk management.

Intertek has partnered with Trace One, a leading provider of web and IT solutions to the retail industry, to launch 'Connected Sources' and new web-based solutions for supplier risk management.

Combining the expertise of Intertek and Trace One in their respective markets, the venture will provide customized, IT platforms to help global retailers better manage supplier compliance programs. It will gather industry initiatives, brands, suppliers and certification bodies with solutions covering supplier engagement, self and risk assessment, internal and external audit management, corrective action plan, remediation and supplier qualification solutions can also be integrated into the platforms. Connected Sources will have offices in London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong.

André Raghu, President of Intertek Sustainability Solutions said "We are pleased to combine our expertise with Trace One to provide Intertek's existing customers and other leading brands with enhanced forward-thinking services for monitoring supplier risk. This new service will address the main compliance challenges including, Labor standards, C-TPAT, Health, Safety, Environment, Food Safety and Carbon Footprint confronting our customers today and tomorrow".

Stephane Dugelay, VP Operations for Trace One said: "Connected Sources is the first company to bundle expert services with latest generation, web based, fully secured collaborative software to serve global customers for supplier risk management. Now large brands have a one stop shop to manage their entire supplier compliance program"

The announcement was made at the CIES Food Safety Forum in Amsterdam on Feb 13th, 2008. Connected Sources was also present at the Ethical Sourcing Forum in New York, in March 13th & 14th, 2008.

About Intertek

Intertek is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world. From auditing and inspection, to testing, quality assurance and certification, Intertek people are dedicated to adding value to customers' products and processes, supporting their success in the global marketplace. Intertek has the expertise, resources and global reach to support its customers through its network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 21,000 people in 110 countries around the world.

For further information, visit www.intertek.com

About Trace One

Trace One is a European software company which develops and deploys web-based, multilingual collaborative solutions for the retail and industry, to manage new product development and supplier risk processes. 7 global retailers, including European leader Carrefour and hundreds of consumer goods manufacturers with thousands of facilities in 14 countries use Trace One software, to reduce new products time to market and exposure to supply chain risks.

Trace One’s technology bundles advanced document & project management capabilities with the highest data confidentiality level available for web-based software. In 2006, Trace One received the Deloitte First Prize as the best innovative company for the 2001-2005 period. The company was also awarded with R&D labels from the European Community in 2002 and 2003.

For further information, please visit www.traceone.eu

For more information please contact: