Article 7
Development and revision of EU Ecolabel criteria
Following consultation of the EUEB, the Commission, Member States, competent bodies and other stakeholders may initiate and lead the development or revision of EU Ecolabel criteria. Where such other stakeholders are put in charge of leading the development of criteria, they must demonstrate expertise in the product area, as well as the ability to lead the process with neutrality and in line with the aims of this Regulation. In this regard, consortiums consisting of more than one interest group shall be favoured.
The party which initiates and leads the development or revision of EU Ecolabel criteria shall, in accordance with the procedure set out in Part A of Annex I, produce the following documents:
a preliminary report;
a proposal for draft criteria;
a technical report in support of the proposal for draft criteria;
a final report;
a manual for potential users of the EU Ecolabel and competent bodies;
a manual for authorities awarding public contracts.
Those documents shall be submitted to the Commission and to the EUEB.
Where criteria have already been developed under another ecolabel scheme complying with the requirements of EN ISO 14024 type I environmental labels for a product group for which no EU Ecolabel criteria have been established, any Member State in which the other ecolabel scheme is recognised may, after consulting the Commission and the EUEB, propose those criteria for development under the EU Ecolabel scheme.
In such cases, the shortened criteria development procedure laid down in Part B of Annex I may apply provided that the proposed criteria have been developed in line with Part A of Annex I. Either the Commission or the Member State which, according to the first subparagraph, has proposed the shortened criteria development procedure shall lead that procedure.