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Substantiate environmental claims |
Due Diligence |
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- Description:
- The company must carry out an assessment substantiating the explicit environmental claim using scientific evidence, a life-cycle perspective, relevant environmental impacts and aspects, and primary and secondary information.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Products or activities for which a company makes an explicit environmental claim in B2C commercial practices
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader making the environmental claim
- Check method:
- Assessment using scientific evidence, life-cycle data and available primary and secondary information
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 3(1)
- Source excerpt:
- Member States shall ensure that traders carry out an assessment to substantiate explicit environmental claims. This assessment shall:
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Substantiate comparative environmental claims |
Due Diligence |
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- Description:
- The company must substantiate comparative environmental claims using equivalent information, data, value-chain coverage, environmental impacts and assumptions.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Comparative explicit environmental claims about products or traders
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader making the comparative claim
- Check method:
- Comparison of equivalent data, methods, life-cycle stages, environmental impacts and assumptions; for improvement claims, evidence of significant improvement and the baseline year
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 4(1)
- Source excerpt:
- The substantiation of explicit environmental claims that state or imply that a product or trader has less environmental impacts or a better environmental performance than other products or traders (‘comparative environmental claims’) shall, in addition to the requirements set out in Article 3, comply with the following requirements:
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Communicate environmental claims compliantly |
Other |
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- Description:
- The company may communicate an explicit environmental claim only for environmental impacts, aspects or performance that have been substantiated and identified as significant.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Explicit environmental claims in B2C commercial practices
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader communicating the claim
- Check method:
- Review that the claim covers only substantiated environmental impacts, aspects or performance identified as significant
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 5(2)
- Source excerpt:
- Explicit environmental claims may only cover environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance that are substantiated in accordance with the requirements laid down in Articles 3, 4 and 5 and that are identified as significant for the product or trader concerned in accordance with Article 3 paragraph (1) point (c) or (d).
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Provide use information |
Stakeholder Engagement |
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- Description:
- The company must provide, together with the claim, information explaining how consumers should use the final product to achieve its expected environmental performance.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Final products where the use phase is among the most relevant life-cycle stages
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader making the claim
- Check method:
- Providing information on appropriate use together with the claim
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 5(3)
- Source excerpt:
- Where the explicit environmental claim is related to a final product, and the use phase is among the most relevant life-cycle stages of that product, the claim shall include information on how the consumer should use the product in order to achieve the expected environmental performance of that product. That information shall be made available together with the claim.
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Include a future-performance commitment |
Governance |
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- Description:
- The company must include in a claim about future environmental performance a time-bound commitment to improvements inside its own operations and value chains.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Claims about the future environmental performance of a product or trader
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader making the future-performance claim
- Check method:
- Review that the commitment is time-bound and concerns improvements inside the company’s own operations and value chains
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 5(4)
- Source excerpt:
- Where the explicit environmental claim is related to future environmental performance of a product or trader it shall include a time-bound commitment for improvements inside own operations and value chains.
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Make substantiation information available |
Record Keeping |
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- Description:
- The company must make information about the product or trader and the substantiation available together with the claim, including underlying studies and calculations, improvements, the certificate of conformity and verifier details.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Products or activities that are the subject of an explicit environmental claim
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader communicating the claim
- Check method:
- Providing the information physically or through a weblink, QR code or equivalent access
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 5(6)
- Source excerpt:
- Information on the product or the trader that is the subject of the explicit environmental claim and on the substantiation shall be made available together with the claim in a physical form or in the form of a weblink, QR code or equivalent.
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Obtain prior verification |
Approval |
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- Description:
- The company must have the environmental claim or environmental label verified before it is made public or displayed and, where appropriate, obtain a certificate of conformity.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Explicit environmental claims and environmental labels intended to be made public or displayed on the Union market
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader; verification by the independent verifier
- Check method:
- Prior conformity verification by an independent accredited third-party body
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 10(4)
- Source excerpt:
- The verification shall be undertaken by a verifier fulfilling the requirements set out in Article 11, in accordance with the procedures referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, before the environmental claim is made public or the environmental label is displayed by a trader.
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Review and update substantiation |
Record Keeping |
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- Description:
- The company must review and update the information used for substantiation when relevant circumstances change and no later than five years after it was provided; the updated claim must be verified again.
- Frequency:
- Other
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Information used to substantiate explicit environmental claims
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader making the claim
- Check method:
- Review and update when circumstances may affect accuracy, and no later than five years after the information is provided
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 9
- Source excerpt:
- Member States shall ensure that the information used for substantiation of explicit environmental claims is reviewed and updated by traders when there are circumstances that may affect the accuracy of a claim, and no later than 5 years from the date when the information referred to in Article 5(6) is provided.
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Make an environmental labelling scheme eligible for approval |
Governance |
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- Description:
- The operator must meet the governance requirements for the environmental labelling scheme and, for a new scheme, submit its rationale, scope, evidence of added value, criteria, methodology, ownership and decision-making information.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Environmental labelling schemes established by private operators
- Checking responsibility:
- The private operator of the environmental labelling scheme
- Check method:
- Establishing transparent governance, monitoring, complaint and non-compliance procedures and submitting evidence of added value
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 8(6)
- Source excerpt:
- In order to receive the approvals referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5, the operators of new environmental labelling schemes shall provide supporting documents setting out the following:
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Substantiate improvement comparisons |
Due Diligence |
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- Description:
- For specified improvement comparisons, the company must demonstrate that the improvement is significant and was achieved within the last five years, and explain its effects and state the baseline year.
- Frequency:
- Event-triggered
- Check frequency:
- -
- Products/Services:
- Comparative environmental claims concerning an improvement
- Checking responsibility:
- The company or trader making the comparative claim
- Check method:
- Evidence that the improvement is significant and was achieved in the last five years; explanation of effects on other relevant impacts or aspects and statement of the baseline year
- Rule set:
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- Source reference:
- Article 4(2)
- Source excerpt:
- Where a comparative environmental claim relates to an improvement in terms of environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance of a product that is subject to the claim compared to environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance of another product from the same trader, from a competing trader that is no longer active on the market or from a trader that no longer sells to consumers, the substantiation of the claim shall explain how that improvement affects other relevant environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance of the product subject to the claim and shall clearly state the baseline year for the comparison.
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