Our History

Cotecna has embarked on a major new chapter in its history. We have welcomed Frank Piedelièvre as Chairman and majority shareholder, bringing with him his considerable expertise and track record in the Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) sector. The Massey family continues to hold the remainder of the company’s capital.

The Board of Directors of Cotecna appointed Sébastien Dannaud as CEO of the company, aiming to bring a new management dynamic with an ambitious transformation plan for the decade ahead.

Since his appointment, Sébastien Dannaud has led Cotecna through a fast growth phase and overseen the completion of a number of successful acquisitions across our different business lines for companies in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas.

Cotecna is rapidly expanding its network and its scope of services. We provide leading testing, inspection, and certification services across 6 key sectors; agriculture, food, minerals and metals, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and government & trade solutions.

Today, our company comprises over 6,000 employees worldwide, operating across more than 50 countries.

In 2011, our global network of offices achieved the ISO 17020 accreditation. In doing so, we became one of the few inspection companies to receive this accreditation on a worldwide scale. A few years later we also achieved the ISO 17025 accreditation for our laboratories.

Cotecna grows to become a top four company in the agricultural sector, as well as a key player in the mineral sector thanks to a major contract in coal inspection in India and business growth in the nickel market.

Cotecna adapted to changes in the Government sector by developing value-added technological solutions such as our electronic transit monitoring and merchandise security services. We consolidated our leadership in the provision of non-intrusive inspections for Customs, with more than 70 scanners operated.

During this time, we also obtained our first Verification of Conformity (VoC) contracts, which included Nigeria.

The company grows to over 2,750 employees worldwide.

In the new millennium Cotecna’s rapid growth takes it global, while new technologies help us to expand our service portfolio and provide new innovative inspection and testing solutions for our clients.

Cotecna widens its range of services, introducing new risk management solutions, non-intrusive scanners, secured electronic documentation (E-dox), collateral management, certification services, and cargo tracking.

We are appointed by the US Government to play a significant role in Operation Safe Commerce (OSC). Cotecna was the only non-US company selected to help improve national security.

Business increased steadily during this decade thanks to new government contracts in Angola, Burkina Faso, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Togo, to name a few.

In parallel, the Commercial division develops its activities worldwide, opening new offices across the globe. Notably, Cotecna expands into the Asian market for the first time.

The company grows to over 2,750 employees worldwide.

Throughout the 1990s, Cotecna continued to establish its reputation as one of the world’s leading trade facilitation and inspection organizations.

We consolidated our PSI position, with new contracts in both Africa and South America, further helping to curb foreign exchange control evasion and increasing customs revenues for governments. At the same time, the company’s nascent Commercial division is also expanded to cover agricultural commodities, with a special focus on markets in Russia and Turkey.

In 1999, Cotecna pioneered Destination Inspection. This involved tailor-made verification and capacity building services to assist Customs with the inspection of targeted imported goods upon arrival in a country. This programme, incorporating risk management and the use of new technologies such as container scanners, was first launched in Ghana.

By the end of the decade, Cotecna has grown to become a truly international company, with approximately 1,000 employees operating across the world.

Cotecna was founded in Switzerland in 1974 by Mr Elie Georges Massey.

He created the company initially to meet the demand for professional inspection services in the Middle East. In its first year, the company consisted of just 10 employees.

In 1975, the company moves to Geneva, which remains the location of our head office today. During this time, Cotecna also initiated its relationship with the United Nations. Over the years, we have worked with UN agencies such as the WHO, FAO and UNHCR to inspect purchases of medical equipment and medicine.

In 1984, Cotecna was selected by the Nigerian government, among a number of other international service providers, to carry out a ‘comprehensive import supervision scheme’ in the country.

During the following years, we adapted this programme specifically for customs operations. It became known as Pre-shipment Inspection (PSI), creating a new dynamic that spread to many other countries.