Commission Decision (EU) 2023/693

Contents

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the EU Ecolabel^note, and in particular Article 8(2) thereof,After consulting the European Union Ecolabelling Board,Whereas:

(1)Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 provides that the EU Ecolabel may be awarded to products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle. Specific EU Ecolabel criteria are to be established for each product group.

(2)By Commission Decision (EU) 2017/1214^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘hand dishwashing detergents’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 26 June 2023.

(3)By Commission Decision (EU) 2017/1215^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘industrial and institutional dishwasher detergents’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 26 June 2023.

(4)By Commission Decision (EU) 2017/1216^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘dishwasher detergents’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 26 June 2023.

(5)By Commission Decision (EU) 2017/1217^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘hard surface cleaning products’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 26 June 2023.

(6)By Commission Decision (EU) 2017/1218^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘laundry detergents’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 26 June 2023.

(7)By Commission Decision (EU) 2017/1219^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘industrial and institutional laundry detergents’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 26 June 2023.

(8)By Commission Decision (EU) 2018/680^note, EU Ecolabel criteria were established for the product group ‘indoor cleaning services’. The validity of those criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements is to expire on 3 May 2023.

(9)In line with the conclusions of the EU Ecolabel Fitness check of 30 June 2017^note, the Commission, with the advice and assistance of the EU Ecolabelling Board, assessed and confirmed the relevance of the EU Ecolabel criteria for the above-mentioned product groups, thereby implementing solutions to improve synergies across product groups and to increase the uptake of EU Ecolabel. This would include bundling of closely related product groups, where appropriate, and ensuring that, during the EU Ecolabel criteria revision process, the Commission pays appropriate attention to the coherence between relevant Union policies, legislation and scientific evidence.

(10)The above-mentioned assessment revealed that, for the detergents product groups, a revision is needed in order to ensure coherence with other Union policies. That revision will take into account the outcome of the on-going revision of Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note. For indoor cleaning services, the criteria were considered still up to date and likely to be up to date in the next years. Therefore, a revision of related criteria could start at a later stage also allowing references to the revised criteria on detergents.

(11)In order for the Commission to carry out the revision of the related criteria in synergy with forthcoming legislative initiatives and bundling them together, if possible, it is therefore appropriate to prolong the validity of the EU Ecolabel criteria set out in Decisions (EU) 2017/1214, (EU) 2017/1215, (EU) 2017/1216, (EU) 2017/1217, (EU) 2017/1218, (EU) 2017/1219 and (EU) 2018/680.

(12)To allow sufficient time to finalise the revision processes and to ensure market continuity to licence holders between current and revised versions of the criteria, the period of validity of the current criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements should be prolonged until 31 December 2026 for hand dishwashing detergents, industrial and institutional dishwasher detergents, dishwasher detergents, hard surface cleaning products, laundry detergents, industrial and institutional laundry detergents. For indoor cleaning services, the period of validity of the current criteria and of the related assessment and verification requirements should be prolonged until 31 December 2027.

(13)Decisions (EU) 2017/1214, (EU) 2017/1215, (EU) 2017/1216, (EU) 2017/1217, (EU) 2017/1218, (EU) 2017/1219 and (EU) 2018/680 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(14)The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: