You can apply for a licence if a set of criteria has been drawn up for your product. Criteria for new product groups are being developed on an ongoing basis. If there are no criteria as yet for ecolabelling of your product, you are welcome to suggest that a set of criteria be developed.
Here is how the application procedure works:
Contacting us
Before you send off your formal application to Ecolabelling Denmark, you are welcome to contact the person who handles applications for the relevant product group at Ecolabelling Denmark.
Sending in the application - Nordic Ecolabel
You can download the application form or order it from Ecolabelling Denmark. The form is to be completed and sent in together with the documentation needed for the specific criteria.
Please be aware that the documentation may be quite comprehensive. Your business is required to keep a copy of the documentation.
Send your applications to application@ecolabel.dk.
Sending in the application - EU Ecolabel
In order to apply for an EU Ecolabel licence, the online tool Ecat admin is to be used.
Ecat admin requires a login and a password which can be ordered from the following website: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/ecat_admin
Please note that at the same time the necessary documents must be sent by mail or email to Ecolabelling Denmark when the online application has been submitted.
The attached user instructions will assist you in accessing the new system and are intended to be self-explanatory. If problems arise or you have any further questions, please contact either the EU Ecolabel Helpdesk on ecolabel@biois.com or alternatively Charlotte Bennick at Ecolabelling Denmark.
The application is considered
Ecolabelling Denmark will consider your application as quickly as possible. The documentation will be examined and, if inadequate, it will need changing or extending. In some cases, it may prove necessary to make adjustments to the product itself.
Shortly before the licence is awarded, Ecolabelling Denmark makes an inspection visit to the applicant and sub-contractors, if any. The purpose is to assess whether the product, conditions of production and production process are in accordance with what is described in the documentation.
Awarding of licence
By far the largest number of applicants are awarded a licence. On average it takes a couple of months to consider an application, but this may differ greatly. If both the application and documentation are complete and correct from the beginning, it need not take more than two weeks to award the licence. On the other hand, it may take a year if the documentation has to be redone or the product has to be changed.
So if the manufacturer fulfils all the requirements relating to the criteria from the start, the licence may be obtained very quickly. However, most often the documentation will need changing or extending before it is in order. Very few applicants give up for that reason though.
Renewal of licence
When the criteria expire and are revised or replaced by new ones, the licence will have to be renewed. This is every three or four years. In the period from when the licence is awarded and until it has to be renewed, Ecolabelling Denmark carries out spot checking. This may be by paying visits to the licence holders or buying ecolabelled washing powder and testing whether it contains substances that are prohibited according to the criteria.
To renew your Nordic Ecolabel licence you are required to submit an application for renewal. For this the same forms are to be used as those used for the "first" application. These can be downloaded here. You just tick the field "Renewal of licence" on the form and then complete the form.
To renew and make any other changes in your EU Ecolabel licence you need to submit an application for renewal at the Ecat admin online tool.
For further information please contact Charlotte Bennick