What it takes to be listed, what it costs, and what the money cannot buy

Admission criteria

All of the following are checked before publication and re-checked every twelve months. Any one of them failing means the entry is not published or is withdrawn.

• A legal entity identifiable on a public company register, with its registered number stated.
• An operating address and a named contact with a role title.
• Services described in plain terms, without superlatives, rankings or claims of being leading, best or approved.
• Where accreditation is claimed, an accreditation body, a scope and a reference number that can be checked against that body's public schedule. Where no accreditation is held, the entry says so in those words.
• Written confirmation that the applicant has read these terms and accepts that the listing carries no editorial endorsement.

Rates

These are the rates set by the publisher and they are the only commercial figures published anywhere on this site. They are the same for every applicant. There is no negotiated rate, no agency rate and no volume discount, because a discount is a relationship and this register does not have relationships.

What the money cannot buy

This list is exhaustive and it is the reason the register exists in the form it does.

• It cannot buy position. The order is alphabetical and is not altered.
• It cannot buy a mention in any article, now or later.
• It cannot buy a link from an article. Articles do not link to the register at all.
• It cannot buy an editorial link anywhere on the site.
• It cannot buy a favourable claim ruling, a softened claim ruling, or the withdrawal of one.
• It cannot buy advance sight of anything we intend to publish.
• It cannot buy the removal of accurate published material.
• It cannot buy a badge, a seal, a score or the word approved.
• It cannot buy category exclusivity, or a promise that we will stop writing about a subject.
• It cannot buy the newsletter list, which is never shared with anyone.

Grounds for refusal

We refuse entries that cannot evidence the criteria, that ask for these terms to be changed, that request a prominent or featured position, that make the payment conditional on any editorial treatment, or that come from a sunscreen brand, own label supplier, contract manufacturer of finished sun protection products, retailer or distributor. Fees are refunded in full where an entry is refused or withdrawn on our initiative.

Applying

Write through contact with the legal entity name, registered number, services, accreditation reference where held, and a named contact. We will tell you whether the entry meets the criteria before any invoice is raised.