(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 2014/763/EU (2) established EU Ecolabel criteria and related assessment and verification requirements for the product group ‘absorbent hygiene products’. The period of validity of those criteria and requirements has been extended to 31 December 2023 by Commission Decision (EU) 2018/1590 (3).

(4)

In order to better reflect best practice in the market for the product group and to take account of policy developments, potential future windows of opportunity for increased uptake and the market’s demand for sustainable products, it is appropriate to establish a new set of criteria for absorbent hygiene products. As a sustainable alternative with a potential growing market, it is also appropriate to establish a set of criteria for reusable menstrual cups.

(5)

The EU Ecolabel Fitness Check Report (4) of 30 June 2017, reviewing the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, concluded on the need to develop a more strategic approach for the EU Ecolabel, including the bundling of closely related product groups where appropriate

(6)

In line with those conclusions and after consulting the EU Ecolabelling Board, it is appropriate to bundle the product group ‘absorbent hygiene products’ with the product group ‘reusable menstrual cups’ in the same Decision, as the two product groups fulfil the same function.

(7)

In line with Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, the EU Ecolabel shall not be awarded to any type of medical device, including those defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5).

(8)

The new Circular Economy Action Plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe (6) adopted on 11 March 2020 stipulates that the durability, recyclability and recycled content requirements are to be more systematically included in the EU Ecolabel criteria.

(9)

The revised EU Ecolabel criteria for absorbent hygiene products and reusable menstrual cups should aim to promote products that have limited environmental impact along their life cycle, and that are produced using material-efficient and energy-efficient processes. In particular, the revised EU Ecolabel criteria promote products that have limited impacts in terms of emissions to water and to air during production, that use raw materials sourced from sustainably managed forests, and that fulfil strict requirements on harmful substances. Moreover, in order to contribute towards the transition to a more circular economy, the criteria promote the use of paper and/or cardboard packaging, when possible, as an alternative to plastic packaging, and promote packaging with recycled content and which can be easily recycled.

(10)

Reusable products made of textiles are appearing on the market as an alternative to single-use products. The revised EU Ecolabel criteria for absorbent hygiene products and for reusable menstrual cups do not apply to these reusable textile alternatives, whose environmental hotspots and ecological criteria are planned to be specifically investigated for the purposes of the revision of EU Ecolabel criteria for textile products established by Commission Decision 2014/350/EU (7).

(11)

The new criteria and related assessment and verification requirements should remain valid until 31 December 2029, taking into account the innovation cycle for the product groups.

(12)

For reasons of legal certainty, Decision 2014/763/EU should be repealed.

(13)

A transitional period should be available to producers whose products have been awarded the EU Ecolabel for absorbent hygiene products on the basis of the criteria set out in Decision 2014/763/EU, so that they have sufficient time to adapt their products to comply with the new criteria and requirements. For a limited period after adoption of this Decision, producers of absorbent hygiene products should be allowed to submit applications based either on the criteria established by Decision 2014/763/EU or on the new criteria established by this Decision. It should also be allowed to use EU Ecolabels awarded in accordance with the criteria established by Decision 2014/763/EU for a transitional period.

(14)

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,