23.5.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
A.3.
Defining the scope of the PEFCRs
A.3.1.
Product categories and sub-categories
L 144/125
Products having similar functions and applications should be grouped within the same PEFCR.
The scope of the PEFCR shall be selected in a way that it is sufficiently wide to cover different applications and/or technologies.
In some cases, to fulfil this requirement, a product category may be split into multiple sub-categories.
The TS shall decide if sub-categories are necessary to achieve the primary objective of the PEFCR and therefore to avoid the risk that the hotspot results from different technologies get mixed up or the results of the ones with a small market share are overlooked (9).
It is necessary to be as specific as possible when defining the product category and sub-categories to ensure comparability of results.
The PEFCR shall be structured with a section including the ‘horizontal’ rules that are common to all products in scope of the PEFCR, and then a section for each sub-category including the specific ‘vertical’ rules applicable only to that sub-category (Figure A-3).
As a general principle, the horizontal rules prevail over the vertical ones; however, specific derogations from this principle may be allowed if properly justified.
This structure will make it easier to widen the scope of an existing PEFCR by adding more product sub-categories.
Each sub-category shall be clearly described in the scope definition of the PEFCR, each sub-category shall have its own RP and benchmark (10) together with its selection of most relevant processes, life cycle stages, direct elementary flows and impact categories.
For each RP (and thus sub-category) at least three PEF supporting studies shall be carried out (see section A.3.6).
Figure L-3 Example of a PEFCR structure with product category specific horizontal rules, various product subcategories, and product sub-category specific vertical rules.
(9) This to ensure that the hotspot analysis reflects all different technologies.
(10) A benchmark is only applicable to final products (section A.5.1)