Process for Setting Criteria

In June 2010, a new procedure for EU GPP criteria development was put in place in order to make the criteria development process more participatory and enhance synergies among different product-related policy instruments, for example EU GPP and EU Ecolabel.

The Commission's Joint Research Centre's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) in Seville/Spain is leading the criteria development process on the basis of an annual GPP work plan which is coordinated with the EU Ecolabel workplan. This work plan is adopted in consultation with the informal GPP Advisory Group (GPP AG).

The EU GPP process will to a large extent follow the structure of the EU Ecolabel criteria-setting procedure. It will provide stakeholders with the possibility to comment on the documents and the draft EU GPP criteria at several stages of the process. However, compared with the EU Ecolabel procedure, it will be shorter and will not involve the formal adoption of the criteria as a legal act.

The newly established informal GPP AG acts as a consultative body to the European Commission for general GPP policy issues and for the development of EU GPP criteria. The GPP AG is composed of one representative per Member State as well as five representatives of other stakeholders (i.e. civil society, industry, SMEs, public procurement and local authority).

You can find more information about the EU GPP criteria development procedure here.