Quality Control means that part of Good Manufacturing Practice which is concerned with sampling, specifications and testing, and with the organization, documentation and release procedures which ensure that the necessary and relevant tests are actually carried out and that materials are not released for use, nor products released for sale or supply, until their quality has been judged to be satisfactory. The basic requirements of quality control are that

• Adequate facilities, trained personnel and approved procedures are available for sampling, inspecting and testing starting materials, packaging materials, intermediate, bulk, and finished products, and where appropriate for monitoring environmental conditions for GMP purposes
• Samples of starting materials, packaging materials, intermediate products, bulk products and finished products are taken by personnel and by methods approved by quality control
• Test methods are validated
• Records are made, manually or by recording instruments, which demonstrate that all the required sampling, inspecting and testing procedures were actually carried out. Any deviations are fully recorded and investigated
• The finished products contain active ingredients complying with the qualitative and quantitative composition of the marketing authorization, are of the purity required, and are enclosed within their proper containers and correctly labelled
• Records are made of the results of inspection and that testing of materials, intermediate, bulk, and finished products is formally assessed against specification. Product assessment includes a review and evaluation of relevant production documentation and an assessment of deviations from specified procedures
• No batch of product is released for sale or supply prior to certification by an authorized person that it is in accordance with the requirements of the relevant authorizations
• Sufficient reference samples of starting materials and products are retained to permit future examination of the product if necessary and that the product is retained in its final pack unless exceptionally large packs are produced