New opportunities for producers

The Product Category Rule PCR007 on electrical/electronic products in compliance with the international standard EN 50693 “Product category rules for life cycle assessments of electronic and electrical products and systems” is being updated in the EPDItaly System.

We remind you that the Product Category Rules (PCR) are the documents necessary to develop the Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) containing the environmental impacts of the product along its life cycle, to be published on EPDItaly.
The above update addresses the possibility of considering electrical/electronic products (EEE) as construction products when they are permanently installed within a building/infrastructure.
For over a year Eco Platform, an association that includes the main Program Operators in the construction sector, has set up a special Working Group of LCA experts, in which ICMQ has taken an active part, with the aim of evaluating which technical changes to make to the check list for construction products (Eco check-list), so as to also include electrical/electronic products. The EN 50693 standard provided for this possibility, but did not provide detailed indications for putting this aspect into practice.
EPDItaly, which has always been attentive to the needs of the market, has therefore started the process of updating the PCR which includes the following steps:
• document development (finished);
• public consultation (completed);
• comment management (in progress);
• review by the EPDItaly Review Committee;
• publication of the document.

The purpose of EPDItaly is to allow EEE producers too to be able to affix the Eco Epd logo (see figure 1) to their Environmental Product Declarations.

Figure 1. Eco Epd logo.

The creation of the Eco Epd logo, by Eco Platform, was certainly a first step for the dissemination of EPDs in the construction sector and for their recognition in Europe. All EPDs published in the construction sector must necessarily bear the same logo.
We remind you that the ECO EPD logo highlights the compliance of the EPD document with the requirements of the EN 15804 standard “Sustainability of buildings – Environmental product declarations – Key development rules by product category”, thus favoring its recognition in the Eco Platform and more generally in Europe. All EPDs bearing the logo will therefore be digitized and visible, not only on the EPDItaly website, but also on the Eco Platform Eco Portal.
With the PCR007 update, EPDItaly wants to make available to producers, not only one more opportunity to make the EPDs visible and recognizable at a European level, but also the possibility of digitizing the EPDs, so that they can be available in real time to building/infrastructure designers, in an internationally recognized and easy exchange format.
The ICMQ/EPDItaly technicians are available to explore the issues of updating the PCR007 and digitization.