(1)

Under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, the EU Ecolabel may be awarded to those products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 provides that specific EU Ecolabel criteria are to be established according to product groups.

(3)

Commission Decision 2014/312/EU (2) established EU Ecolabel criteria and related assessment and verification requirements for the product group ‘indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes’. Those criteria and the related assessment and verification requirements are valid until 31 December 2025.

(4)

Two separate sets of criteria for decorative paints, varnishes, and related products, and performance coatings and related products (previously referred to as ‘indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes’) are needed to better reflect best practice in the market and to take account of policy developments, potential future opportunities for increased uptake and the market’s demand for sustainable products. A third set of new criteria for water-based aerosol spray paints, an additional product group with a potential growing market, is also needed.

(5)

In line with those conclusions and after consulting the EU Ecolabelling Board, it is appropriate to split the product group ‘indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes’ into two product groups, ‘decorative paints, varnishes, and related products’ and ‘performance coatings and related products’. The scope of the Decision should also be expanded to cover the new product group ‘water-based aerosol spray paints’.

(6)

The EU Ecolabel fitness check report (3) of 30 June 2017, reviewing the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 concluded that a more strategic approach was needed for the EU Ecolabel, including bundling the criteria of closely related product groups together where appropriate.

(7)

The new circular economy action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe (4) adopted on 11 March 2020 underlines that durability, energy and resource efficiency, and carbon and environmental footprint requirements are to be included more systematically in EU Ecolabel criteria.

(8)

The revised EU Ecolabel criteria for decorative paints, varnishes, and related products, performance coatings and related products, and water-based aerosol spray paints should aim to promote products that have limited environmental impact throughout their life cycle, which are produced using material-efficient and energy-efficient processes. In particular, those criteria should promote products that have limited impacts in terms of emissions to water and air during production, emissions of volatile compounds during application, and which contain only a limited amount of hazardous substances. The criteria should also encourage efficient use of the product and recommend how to deal with unused product, thereby contributing to the transition to a more circular economy.

(9)

The new criteria and related assessment and verification requirements should be valid until 31 December 2032, taking into account the product groups’ innovation cycle.

(10)

For reasons of legal certainty, Decision 2014/312/EU should be repealed.

(11)

During a transitional period, manufacturers whose products have been awarded the EU Ecolabel for indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes on the basis of the criteria established in Decision 2014/312/EU, have sufficient time to adapt their products to comply with the new criteria and requirements laid down in this Decision. For a limited period after this Decision has entered into application, manufacturers should also be allowed to submit applications based either on the criteria established by Decision 2014/312/EU or on the new criteria established by this Decision. EU Ecolabel licences awarded under the criteria established in Decision 2014/312/EU should remain valid for 18 months from the date this Decision is adopted.

(12)

Water-based aerosol spray paints should not be considered suitable substitutes for conventional paints in large-scale applications, for both wall and ceiling surfaces. This is because their typical coverage rate does not exceed 2,0 m2 per litre, in contrast to conventional paints, which generally achieve a coverage rate of no less than 8,0 m2 per litre.

(13)

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.