Overview
EN ISO 14024:2018 - Environmental labels and declarations - Type I environmental labelling - Principles and procedures (ISO 14024:2018) is a CEN-endorsed international standard that defines how Type I ecolabelling programmes are developed and operated. It sets out the principles, procedural requirements and certification procedures used to create voluntary, multi-criteria environmental labels awarded to products that meet defined environmental performance criteria.
Key topics and requirements
- Principles: Voluntary participation, selectivity, life‑cycle consideration and transparency are central. The standard emphasizes scientific basis, accessibility and avoidance of conflicts of interest.
- Product environmental criteria: Rules for selecting product categories and developing measurable, evidence-based environmental criteria and product function characteristics (clauses 5 and 6).
- Procedures: Structured steps for feasibility studies, stakeholder consultation, criteria development, publication and revision of requirements (clause 6).
- Certification and compliance: Requirements for licensing, assessment, verification, declarations of conformity, supervision, documentation and ongoing compliance monitoring (clause 7).
- Verification and competence: Roles of verifiers, verification methods, data quality and verifier competence are explicitly addressed.
- Administrative elements: Periods of validity, review cycles, confidentiality, fees, and label protection are covered.
Practical applications
- Establishing or revising a national or industry ecolabel programme that awards a Type I environmental label.
- Developing product category rules and multi‑criteria benchmarks that consider life‑cycle impacts.
- Implementing impartial certification, verification and licensing workflows for ecolabels.
- Demonstrating market differentiation for products that meet rigorous environmental performance criteria.
- Enabling mutual recognition discussions between ecolabelling schemes by providing a common procedural framework.
- Standards bodies and national/regional ecolabelling organisations (programme owners).
- Certification and conformity assessment bodies and independent verifiers.
- Manufacturers, brand owners and retailers seeking ecolabel licencing.
- Policy makers, procurement officers and sustainability managers using ecolabels to set purchasing criteria.
- NGOs and consumer groups evaluating environmental claims.
Related standards
- EN ISO 14024:2018 references the ISO 14020 series on environmental labels and declarations and is part of the broader ISO 14000 family (environmental management standards). Use EN ISO 14024:2018 in combination with ISO guidance on life‑cycle thinking and conformity assessment for robust ecolabelling programmes.
Keywords: EN ISO 14024:2018, Type I environmental labelling, ecolabel, product environmental criteria, certification, verification, life cycle, environmental labelling standards.
