Notwithstanding Article 7, applications submitted before the date of adoption of this Decision for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within both the product group ‘graphic paper’, as defined in this Decision, and the product group ‘copying and graphic paper’, as defined in Decision 2011/333/EU, shall be evaluated in accordance with the conditions laid down in Decision 2011/333/EU.

Notwithstanding Article 7, applications submitted before the date of adoption of this Decision for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within both the product group ‘graphic paper’, as defined in this Decision, and the product group ‘newsprint paper’ as defined in Decision 2012/448/EU, shall be evaluated in accordance with the conditions laid down in Decision 2012/448/EU.

Notwithstanding Article 7, applications submitted before the date of adoption of this Decision for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within both the product group ‘tissue paper and tissue products’, as defined in this Decision, and the product group ‘tissue paper’ as defined in Decision 2009/568/EC, shall be evaluated in accordance with the conditions laid down in Decision 2009/568/EC.

Applications for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within the product group ‘graphic paper’ or ‘tissue paper and tissue products’ submitted on or after the date of adoption of this Decision but no later than 31 December 2018 may be based either on the criteria set out in this Decision or on the criteria set out in Decision 2011/333/EU, Decision 2012/448/EU or Decision 2009/568/EC, as applicable. Those applications shall be evaluated in accordance with the criteria on which they are based.

Where the EU Ecolabel is awarded on the basis of an application evaluated in accordance with the criteria set out in Decision 2009/568/EC, Decision 2011/333/EU or Decision 2012/448/EU, the EU Ecolabel may be used only until 31 December 2019.