Harmonisation of Indoor Material Emissions Labelling Systems in EU: Inventory of Existing Schemes

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and emissions from building materials have been over the last decades a major challenge for scientists, industry and consumers. In response to the need for improved consumer protection different kinds of labelling systems for material emissions have been developed in many European countries and by industrial organisations. The main purpose is to protect consumers from exposure to chemical pollutants and resulting adverse health effects (i.e., carcinogenic, teratogenic, irritant) or annoyance by bad odours, which could be caused by chemical emissions from materials. This protection can be effectively achieved by supporting the market demand for low emitting materials. The labelling systems developed are typically voluntary for the manufacturers. In spite of a trend towards European harmonisation, most of these labelling systems are mainly focussed on national markets and often require specific tests. Despite a common market there is no harmonised system for material emission labelling available in Europe. This paper reviews and discusses recent developments concerning the indoor material labelling schemes at European level.