New guidelines on the use of EU Ecolabel

The EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) has released two new guides on the use of the EU Ecolabel in green public procurement for hard-covering products and absorbent hygiene products. New guides for graphic paper and tissue paper and tissue products are planned to be published in the first quarter of 2025. The EU Ecolabel – the official EU voluntary ecolabel for environmental excellence of goods and services - and voluntary EU GPP Criteria are European policy instruments that can green the market by matching supply and demand signals. Contracting authorities are often reluctant to state specific green criteria in calls for competition due to uncertainty of what exactly to ask for and the lack of availability of compliant products on the market. 

These practical guides help procurers develop – using the relevant EU Ecolabel criteria - technical specifications and award criteria for green tenders. Together with other officially recognized ecolabels, the EU Ecolabel helps procurers to set requirements the goods or services should meet,  and increase their sustainability credentials. 

The Practical guide for the use of the EU Ecolabel in the green public procurement of hard-covering products includes recommended tailored environmental criteria focused on (i) energy consumption and CO2; (ii) emissions to air; and (iii) process waste reuse and applied to nature stone-, agglomerated stone-, ceramic/fired clay- and precast concrete-based hard covering products. 

The Practical guide for the use of the EU Ecolabel in the green public procurement of absorbent hygiene products includes recommended environmental criteria focused on (i) fluff pulp, man-man cellulose fibre, and cotton sourcing and processing (ii) material efficiency in the manufacturing of the final product, and (iii) product packaging. 

Compliance for both of these product groups can be automatically verified by products carrying the EU Ecolabel and, in some cases, by products carrying other ISO 14024 type I ecolabels.