Standards Development

Scope

This European Standard specifies requirements for transparent and non-misleading business to business communication of characteristics of bio-based products by means of a specific Data Sheet. It does not specify requirements for bio-based products.

This European Standard is intended to be used as a tool to generate and transfer information in the value chain and/or as an input for product-specific standards and certification schemes.

Business to consumer communication is covered by prEN 16935.

Purpose

Since the standard has been published, there have been several developments, both in policy and in society as a whole, which affect this topic matter. Most notably is the Green claims directive, and one of the main reasons for this revision is to make sure that the datasheet contains everything that is needed for the market actors a few steps down the value chain, especially those that will communicate towards consumers in the end.

The EU study Environmental claims in the EU Inventory and reliability assessment Final report showed that 53,3 % of all environmental claims made are vague, misleading or unfounded. 40 % of all claims were also unsubstantiated. This shows the need for more clarity on this matter which we aim to provide with this revision.

Also, developments in society at large shows the need to potentially include more items in the data sheet and / or to clarify some aspects further. 

During the revision process we will also investigate the possibilities related to the EU Ecolabel