EPDItaly and AENOR for business competitiveness

The agreement forms part of the common strategy to promote the diffusion of sustainability of the Italian production system through the mutual recognition of Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) amongst the main European and international Program Operators.

After the agreements entered into with the German organisation IBU (Institut Bauen und Umwelt), with the Austrian BAU EPD and with UL (Underwriters Laboratories), an independent global organisation, leader in the United States in the field of safety and environmental science, EPDItaly has signed an agreement with AENOR, the GlobalEPD Program operator. Thanks to this agreement, Italian companies wishing to operate in Spain, in possession of EPD certification published on EPDItaly, can publish on GlobalEPD without further verification and acquire more value in terms of quality and environmental sustainability.

Both programs recognise the importance of the diffusion of EPDs as a tool providing information about the environmental impacts of products and above all, in light of the Italian Decree published in the Official Gazette on 06/11/17, on the Minimal Environmental Criteria (MEC) for building, as a way of demonstrating compliance with the requirements of the MEC themselves.

EPDItaly, the only Italian Program Operator, has obtained recognition from Accredia that allows the Certification Bodies to operate under accreditation for the verification and validation of the Environmental Product Declarations. EPDItaly publishes the EPDs validated by the Certification Bodies on the website www.epditaly.it. The publication is the final act that allows those interested to verify that the product in question is suitable for satisfying the MEC.

GlobalEPD is AENOR’s Environmental Declaration Verification Program, which currently works in building products and in the food sector. In addition, AENOR has bilateral agreements with EPDItaly and with IBU (Germany) and International EPD System (Sweden). AENOR is a founding member of the European ECO Platform association, for the EPD verification program in the construction sector, as is EPDItaly.

The product EPDs published in Italy on www.epditaly.it or from Global EPD on www.aenor.com will automatically be recognised and accepted by the other Program Operators without further verification, becoming part of a database, visible and recognised at international level.

The Spanish market as an opportunity for Italian companies

Spain has the highest economic growth rate of all the Eurozone countries. In the last three years, according to data from the Economist, it has grown by over 3% per year: triple the growth rate of Italy, double that of France and almost double that of Germany. This is a country that has managed to quickly recover the gap caused by the economic crisis, also increasing the employment balance: from 2014, on average, the figure has been growing by 150 thousand jobs per quarter.
Through certification and conformity assessment AENOR helps to improve the quality and competitiveness of companies, products and services. AENOR is the leading certification body in Spain, and its awards are among the most appreciated, making it one of the top 10 certification bodies in the world.
Currently, more than 77,000 work centres (between main and secondary offices) possess some of the certificates issued by AENOR, which support organisations in fields such as Quality, Environmental Management, Innovation, Occupational Health and Safety or Social Responsibility.
AENOR is a global entity operating in 90 countries through certification, training, information services, inspection, analysis, validation and verification of projects for the reduction of emissions; accompanying companies in their expansion. In Spain, it offers its services from 20 offices.