COMMISSION DECISION
of 2 May 2014
establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the EU Ecolabel for converted paper products
(notified under document C(2014) 2774)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2014/256/EU)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the EU Ecolabel (1), and in particular Article 8(2) thereof,
After consulting the European Union Eco-labelling Board,
Whereas:
(1)
Under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, the EU Ecolabel may be awarded to those products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle.
(2)
Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 provides that specific EU Ecolabel criteria are to be established according to product groups.
(3)
Since products having the best environmental performance should be produced with reduced discharges of toxic or eutrophic substances into waters, reduced environmental damage or risks related to the use of energy (global warming, acidification, ozone depletion, depletion of non-renewable resources), reduced environmental damage or risks related to the use of hazardous chemicals, it is appropriate to establish EU Ecolabel criteria for the product group ‘converted paper’.
(4)
The revised criteria, as well as the related assessment and verification requirements should be valid for three years from the date of adoption of this Decision, taking into account the innovation cycle for this product group.
(5)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
1. The product group ‘converted paper products’ shall comprise the following products:
(a)
envelopes and paper carrier bags that consist of at least 90 % by weight of paper, paperboard or paper-based substrates;
(b)
stationery paper products that consist of at least 70 % by weight of paper, paperboard or paper based substrates, except for suspension files and folders with metal fastener subcategories.
In the case referred to in point (b), the plastic component cannot exceed 10 % except for ring binders, exercise books, notebooks, diaries, and lever arch files where the plastic weight cannot exceed 13 %. Furthermore, the metal weight cannot exceed 30 g per product except for suspension files, folders with metal fasteners and ring binders where it can be up to 50 g and except for lever arch files, where it can up to 120 g.
2. The product group ‘converted paper product’ shall not include the following products:
(a)
printed paper products included in the EU Ecolabel as established in Commission Decision 2012/481/EU (2);
(b)
packaging products (with the exception of paper carrier bags).
Article 2
For the purpose of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply:
(1)
‘Board substrate’ means paperboard, cardboard or board, unprinted and not converted, with a basis weight higher than 400 g/m2;
(2)
‘Consumables’ means chemical products used during the printing, coating and finishing processes and capable of being consumed, destroyed, dissipated, wasted or spent;
(3)
‘Converted paper product’ is a paper, paperboard or paper based substrates, either printed or unprinted, generally used to protect, handle or store items and/or notes, for which the converting process is an essential part of the production process, comprising three main categories of products: envelopes, paper carrier bags and stationery paper products;
(4)
‘Stationery paper products’ include folders, binders, notebooks, pads, notepads, exercise books, spiral-bound notebook, calendars with covers, diaries and loose-leafs;
(5)
‘Converting process’ means a process whereby a material is processed into a converted paper product. This process can include a printing process (pre-press, press, and post-press operations);
(6)
‘Halogenated organic solvent’ means an organic solvent which contains at least one atom of bromine, chlorine, fluorine or iodine per molecule;
(7)
‘Non-paper components’ means all the parts of a converted paper product that do not consist of paper, paperboard or paper based substrates;
(8)
‘Packaging’ means all products made of any materials of any nature to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer;
(9)
‘Paper carrier bags’ are paper-based products used for the handling/transportation of goods;
(10)
‘Recycling’ means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original purpose or other purposes, except for energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations;
(11)
‘Recycled fibres’ means fibres diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process or generated by end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for their intended purpose. Excluded is reutilisation of materials generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it (mill broke - own produced or purchased);
(12)
‘Folders’ mean folding cases or covers for loose papers, such as suspension files, indices and dividers, document wallet, 3-flap folders, and square cut folders;
(13)
‘Binders’ are paper-based products consisting of a cover, usually made of board, with rings for holding loose papers together, such as ring binders and lever arch files;
(14)
‘Volatile Organic Compounds’ (VOC) means any organic compound as well as the fraction of creosote, having at 293,15 K a vapour pressure of 0,01 kPa or more, or having a corresponding volatility under the particular conditions of use;
(15)
‘Washing agents’ means: chemicals used to wash printing forms and printing presses to remove printing inks, paper dust and similar products; cleaners for finishing machines and printing machines; printing inks removers used in washing off dried printing inks;
(16)
‘Waste paper’ means paper generated during the production of finished converted paper product and which does not form part thereof.
Article 3
In order to be awarded the EU Ecolabel under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, an item of converted paper product shall fall within the product group ‘Converted paper product’ as defined in Article 1 of this Decision and shall comply with the criteria as well as the related assessment and verification requirements set out in the Annex.
Article 4
The criteria for the product group ‘Converted paper product’, as well as the related assessment and verification requirements, shall be valid for three years from the date of adoption of this Decision.
Article 5
For administrative purposes the code number assigned to ‘Converted paper product’ shall be ‘046’.
Article 6
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 2 May 2014.