Public consultation on proposed new criteria for floor coverings and flooring underlays

Nordic Ecolabelling gives you the opportunity to comment on the proposal for new criteria for Floor coverings and flooring underlays. The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is assessed from a life cycle perspective and places high demands on the environment and health.

Your comments are important and will be considered by the national ecolabelling boards and the Nordic Ecolabelling Board. 

Please find the proposed criteria for download further down on this page.

We look forward to your comments, which should be sent to Nordic Ecolabelling no later than 18 September 2023.

Nordic Swan Ecolabel floor coverings and flooring underlays

A Nordic Swan Ecolabel floor covers and flooring underlays meet ambitious environmental requirements from a holistic life cycle perspective. This means that Nordic Swan Ecolabelled floor covers and flooring underlays are amongst the environmentally best in their category.

What has been changed?

• The criteria have been updated so that all requirements set on textile flooring have been removed and specific requirements have been updated or added to include flooring underlays.
• The absolute requirement O4 “Share of renewable and/or recycled raw materials” has been tightened to promote the use of pre- and post-consumer recycled material.
• All substances classified as CMR, regardless of the classification category, are now forbidden.
• New raw material requirements (O14–O22) set on plastics and WPC have been added.
• Origin and traceability must now be documented for all raw materials, regardless of if they are virgin or recycled, as well as fossil-based or renewable.
• The product manufacturer must now have performed an energy mapping (requirement O36). The energy consumption requirement O37 has been tightened.
• A new requirement set on product packaging O39 has been implemented stating that it must contain recycled material.
• The emission requirement O40, included formaldehyde emission, has been tightened.
• Requirements (O45–O49) on warranty, spare parts availability, labelling and traceability, reparability and recyclability as well as product information have been added/updated to increase the products’ circularity.
• A new concept of requirement called “Innovation requirements” (O50) has been added to reward license holders which have come further in their sustainability work regarding one particular area.

We ask for input on the proposal as a whole and specifically on the following

• The renewable raw materials used must be sustainably sourced, through requirements for traceability and a minimum of 70% certified wood raw material must be guaranteed.
• Chemicals used in production such adhesives and surface treatments must have a good environmental and health profile. Phthalates, halogenated flame retardants, PFAS and substances classified as PBT/vPvB, PMT/vPvM and endocrine disruptors must not be added to the products.

We also welcome comments on all other requirements, on other parts of the criteria and on the background document.

Documents for download

• Criteria proposal
• Background to the proposal

Who can provide input?

All people, companies and institutions who are interested in taking part in the development work of Nordic Ecolabelling criteria for Floor coverings and flooring underlays can provide us with their opinions and comments. We would appreciate if you kindly distribute information about this review to whom it may concern.

How can comments be sent in?

Your input is most valuable to our criteria development. We prefer to receive your answers via mail for each contry.

In addition to comments, individual Teams meetings can be held if needed, e.g., to explain further the requirements or to leave more detailed answers about a specific area.

If you wish to have a Teams meeting during the consultation period, please contact, product developer Thibault d’Ortoli (thibault.dortoli@svanen.se).

Consultation webinar

Nordic Ecolabelling will organize a consultation webinar after the summer 2023, if considered necessary.

For further questions, please contact our product specialists

Sweden

Wilma Bäckström Nilsson
E-mail: Wilma.Nilsson@svanen.se or remiss@svanen.se

Norway

Kristian Kruse
E-mail: kk@svanemerket.no or post@svanemerket.no

Denmark

Bjørn-Erik Kölsch
E-mail: bek@ecolabel.dk or hoeringssvar@ecolabel.dk

Finland

Annika Hämäläinen
E-mail: annika.hamalainen@ecolabel.fi or joutsen@ecolabel.fi

What happens next?

When the consultation period is complete, the answers will be compiled and evaluated. For this reason, a new revised proposal for criteria will be submitted to the national ecolabelling boards and committees. On this basis, the Nordic Ecolabelling Board will then decide on new criteria.

Part of the decision document is the summary of all hearing responses together with answers from Nordic Ecolabelling. The summary will be public and available on the Nordic Swan Ecolabel web page in connection with the publication of the new criteria.

We look forward to receiving your comments no later than 18 September 2023.