French guideline on VOC emissions from construction products In 2006, the French published for the first time a guideline on the limitations of VOC emissions (by construction products) into indoor air. In 2009, this so called AFSSET guideline was revised and now regards VOC emissions from a total of...

Evaluation scheme for VOC emissions from construction products VOC emissions from construction products are an important cause of indoor air pollution. Therefore, the , founded in 1997, developed test criteria and – based on these criteria – the AgBB evaluation scheme for VOC emissions from construction products. This so-called...

Emissions certification for (office) furniture The Engineering Committee of the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA), having been founded in 1973, developed following the guidelines of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) the ANSI/BIFMA Safety and Performance Standards für office furniture. Standards such as ANSI/BIFMA X5.1-2017(General Purpose Office Chairs), X5.5-2014 (Desk and...

Label for environment and climate friendly products and services The Blue Angel is the first and most well-known quality label of the world. For 40 years it labels products being particularily environmentally and climatically friendly: up till today more than 12.000 times the Blue Angel mark has been awarded...

British certification programme for sustainable buildings The British sustainablilty certificate BREEAM is one of the most renowned programmes worldwide in the context of building sustainability. It was developed already in Great Britain in 1990  and thus is the oldest quality label in the sector of sustainable buildings per se. Now it...

Indoor air in residential premises may contain various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which may pose a risk to human health at certain exposure concentrations. Therefore, Health Canada has specified exposure limit values for a small number of VOCs such as benzene, formaldehyde, naphthalene, toluene and acetaldehyde in its Residential...

Label for Cork floor coverings The was founded as early as in 1985. The aim of the organisation is, on the one hand, the quality assurance of cork products like floor coverings, insulating materials and, on the other hand, the optimisation of manufacturing processes and support and initiative of research projects....

Emissions label for furniture In cooperation with leading testing bodies like TÜV Rheinland, eco-INSTITUT Cologne, German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) and DIN Consumer Council the German Quality Assurance Association (Deutsche Gütegemeinschaft Möbel – DGM) has developed emissions classifications for furniture and out of these the first global...

Sustainable building certification system Since 2009, the has been awarding certification to buildings that meet various criteria for sustainable, environmentally friendly and economically efficient construction. The certificate is awarded in platinum, gold, silver or bronze. In terms of content, the DGNB system is based on life cycle assessment, performance...

European environmental mark The EU ecolabel, the so-called “Flower”, came into existence in 1992. In 1993 the first criteria catalogues for 2 product types were developed, by now there are around 40 criteria catalogues, mostly for products of the everyday. And constantly they are accruing. The official EU mark for environmentally-friendly...