Appendix II
Washing performance (fitness for use)
(a) Internal testing
The manufacturer’s test laboratory can be approved to conduct testing to document effectiveness if the following additional requirements are met:
— it must be possible for ecolabelling organisations to monitor the performance of testing,
— the ecolabelling organisation must have access to all data on the product,
— performance of the effectiveness test must be described in the quality control system.
The applicant must submit documentation proving that the product has been tested under realistic conditions:
(a) Dishes soiled with spots that are representative for the kind of soiled expected in the areas where the products will be marketed.
(b) Recommended dosage and at the corresponding water hardness at the lowest recommended wash temperature
The applicant must submit documentation proving:
— the product’s ability to remove soiling from the dishes,
— the product’s ability to dry the dishes.
The test product must be tested against a reference product. The reference product may be a well-established product on the market and the tested product must be at least as effective as the reference.
(b) User test
1. Responses must be obtained from at least five test centres representing a random selection of customers.
2. The procedure and dosage must conform to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
3. The test period must continue for at least four weeks with at least 400 test cycles.
4. Every test centre must assess the effectiveness of the product or multi-component system by answering questions relating to the following aspects (or similar formulations):
— the product’s ability to remove soiling from the dishes,
— the product’s ability to dry the dishes,
— the respondent’s satisfaction with the agreement on customer visits.
5. The response must be rated on a scale comprising at least three levels, for example, ‘insufficiently effective’, ‘sufficiently effective’ or ‘very effective’. With regard to how satisfied the test centre is with visit reporting arrangements, the categories must be ‘not satisfied’, ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’.
6. At least 80 % must rate the product as sufficiently effective or very effective on all points (see point 4) and be satisfied or very satisfied with customer visiting arrangements.
7. All raw data from the test must be specified.
8. The test procedure must be described in detail.