The Confederation of European Paper Industry (CEPI) and the European Commission DG Environment are launching a consultation for Product Footprint Category Rules (PFCR) for paper and paper products. The paper PFCR is linked to the forthcoming European methodology for the calculation of environmental footprint of products, currently being developed by the Commission services. This is a pilot project testing a new way of adopting PFCR for an industry sector using crowdsourcing and online tools
The PFCR development process will be transparent and open allowing all stakeholders to participate in the process. All interested organizations and experts are invited to register themselves now and start commenting on a consultation paper via the online collaboration platform www.paperpfcr.eu as of Monday, 12 September
A final PFCR for paper should provide clear guidance for paper companies to conduct environmental footprint studies. In addition, it might represent an important reference document for possible future policy actions both at EU and Member States level.
The European Product Footprint Category Rules (EPFCR) for paper will be divided into three sections; after each section there will be an open consultation (crowdsourcing). Stakeholders can comment on the draft PFCR during the crowdsourcing stages and at the stakeholder meeting which will be held in Brussels 14 and 15 November 2011. The comments received through the open consultation are visible for registered participants via the online platform. At the end of the process, in December 2011, an e-vote will be organised in order to measure the level of support of the document among the stakeholders who contributed to its drafting.
The EFPCR development work includes the following stages:
1. Preparatory stage July-August 2011
2. PFCR consulting stage:
a. 1st crowdsourcing 12/09 > 02/10/2011
b. 2nd crowdsourcing 10/10 > 30/10/2011
c. 3rd crowdsourcing 09/11 > 30/11/2011
3. E-vote: 12/12 > 19/12/2011
Stakeholders that are registered will be reminded of the start for each consultation stage by email.
Role of PFCR
Product Footprint Category Rules (PFCRs) aim at providing detailed technical guidance on how to conduct a product environmental footprint study. PFCR is linked to the forthcoming European methodology for the calculation of environmental footprint, currently being developed by the Commission services.
PFCR complement general methodological guidance for environmental footprint by providing further specification at the product level. PFCR will thus make important contributions to increased reproducibility and consistency in product environmental footprint studies. As defined in ISO 14025(2006), PCRs (Product Category Rules) include sets of specific rules, guidelines and requirements that are aimed at developing “Type III environmental declarations” for any product category. “Type III environmental declarations” are quantitative, LCA-based claims of the environmental aspects of a certain good or service.