“Precisely right”. 

That is the slogan of the German company TÜV Rheinland, a provider of testing, inspection, auditing, and certification services.

But in a fascinating correspondence with Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), the company insists on not relating to geography in Western Sahara.

TÜV Rheinland audits management systems (such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, FSSC 22000), products, and processes across many industries, including food, energy, manufacturing, and healthcare. And in Western Sahara, the German company has aided the Moroccan fish exporting company KB Fish with three ISO standard certificates. 

By doing so, it applies the wrong country's laws when assessing compliance. 

WSRW has appealed to TÜV Rheinland to not aid in the controversial exports, and to consider using United Nations maps when referring to the territory and when understanding which laws to apply. However, it has refused to “take positions” on political matters.

WSRW first wrote to TÜV Rheinland on 29 November 2024. The letter noted that TÜV Rheinland had certified the Moroccan fish processing company KB Fish in occupied Western Sahara, for compliance with three ISO standards: ISO 14001: A standard for Environmental Management Systems; ISO 45001: A standard for Occupational Health and Safety and; ISO 9001: A standard for Quality Management Systems.

The certificate notes that the company is based in “LAAYOUNE, Morocco”. All it would take is to look at a United Nations map to see that this is wrong. 

“On that basis, we fail to understand how TÜV Rheinland came to the conclusion that a company in the occupied territory could go through a compliance check at all. Secondly, we are surprised to see that the geographical location of the establishment above is «Laayoune, Morocco». The geographical error, failing to relate to the UN maps and rulings of international courts on the matter of Western Sahara, as we see it, could constitute an act of gross negligence”, the letter noted. 

In a response to WSRW of 13 December 2024 TÜV Rheinland comments in the following way: 

“In compiling certificates, we (…) must use company data as provided in the respective local commercial register in which our client is listed. (…). We would like to point out that TÜV Rheinland refrains, as a matter of policy, from taking positions or making judgements on questions of international law as well as political matters”.

WSRW then had the following observation to TÜV Rheinland on 29 December.

“Please find a screenshot of your website (…) where KB Fish is suggested to be in “Marokko”. This is a factual error. We suggest you look at a UN map. You can find the maps of the UN on the website of the UN: https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/africa-2”  

WSRW also pointed to several places on TUV Rheinland's own website where it had used the perfectly correct maps, in line with UN cartography. Such as here:

“We hear what you write about not wishing to make judgements on political matters. Such statement is inconsistent with your company’s political practice. To assist a company that operates on licences issued by an occupying power, on occupied territory, is a matter of profound political nature. If TÜV Rheinland had abstained from undertaking a compliance check for a Moroccan company, filed in the Moroccan company registry, under Moroccan laws, outside of Morocco’s internationally recognised borders, in the occupied parts of the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara – then it would have not been involved in politics. To ignore facts, international law, CJEU court rulings, and maps of the UN, and to incorrectly file a certified company in the wrong country - that is political", the WSRW letter reads. 

And the end of the dialogue? 

TÜV Rheinland on 8 January 2025 responded to WSRW that “we will not be making any further comment”. 

"So there we are: A German company involved in auditing Moroccan companies for legal compliance, and who has ‘Precisely. Right’ as its slogan, is failing to relate to United Nations maps and EU Court rulings. The award for the most ironic slogan goes to TÜV Rheinland. We wish TÜV Rheinland the very best in compliance checks for Russian enterprises in Sevastopol in the future. Or maybe TÜV Rheinland will consider Greenland as American next? Understanding which country a company is located in, would be the first step in a compliance check”, stated Tim Sauer from Western Sahara Resource Watch. 

Since this correspondence took place earlier this year, KB Fish is no longer certified, and has been removed from the registry. As of July 2025, other Moroccan companies - the Moroccan maritime agency COMATAM's local branch in El Aaiún and the Moroccan bus company CTM in El Aaiún - are certified instead. Certifications are normally only valid for a certain, limited, time period. 

Another big development on this front took place in March 2025, as TÜV Rheinland acquired the Spanish certification body Sygma Certification SL. The latter is heavily involved in certifications in the territory. WSRW will get back to that in a later report. 

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