IEC GUIDE 121:2023
(Main)Securing credible environmentally relevant performance assessment methods in standards
Securing credible environmentally relevant performance assessment methods in standards
IEC GUIDE 121:2023 specifies principles, requirements, and guidance for standard writers to identify whether an assessment method in their standard can be used to obtain an indication of the environmental performance of a product and to ensure that such assessment is credible.
This Guide applies to standards covering environmental performance of new products and as appropriate to standards covering environmental performance of second life products (e.g., refurbished or remanufactured).
This Guide is therefore intended to ensure that assessment methods developed by standard writers are credible. The credibility of an environmentally relevant performance assessment method is determined by taking into account all the related principles, namely representativeness, measurement repeatability, measurement reproducibility, measurement accuracy, cost of testing, as well as circumvention.
Environmentally relevant performance assessment methods can be present in many IEC standards (e.g., standards covering performance aspects of products), and not only those focused on the environment. This Guide will be applicable to those as well.
This Guide is not applicable to standards containing environmentally relevant performance assessment methods that are not assessed by test (e.g., assessment by inspection or simulation). Nor is it applicable to other aspects not linked to environment, such as EMC and EMF.
Assurer des méthodes d'évaluation crédibles et pertinentes de la performance pour l'environnement dans les normes
L'IEC GUIDE 121:2023 spécifie des principes, des exigences et des recommandations pour aider les rédacteurs de normes à déterminer si une méthode d'évaluation de leur norme peut être utilisée afin d'obtenir une indication de la performance environnementale d'un produit et à assurer la crédibilité de cette évaluation.
Le présent Guide s'applique aux normes qui traitent de la performance environnementale des produits neufs et, le cas échéant, aux normes qui traitent de la performance environnementale des produits de seconde vie (remis en état ou refabriqués, par exemple).
Le présent Guide vise donc à assurer la crédibilité des méthodes d'évaluation élaborées par les rédacteurs de normes. La crédibilité d'une méthode d'évaluation pertinente de la performance pour l'environnement est déterminée en tenant compte de tous les principes connexes, à savoir la représentativité, la répétabilité des mesures, la reproductibilité des mesures, l'exactitude des mesures, le coût des essais, l'anticontournement, ainsi que le réexamen des normes.
Les méthodes d'évaluation pertinentes de la performance pour l'environnement peuvent être présentes dans de nombreuses normes de l'IEC (par exemple, dans les normes qui traitent des aspects relatifs à la performance des produits), et pas seulement dans les normes axées sur l'environnement. Le présent Guide s'applique également à ces normes.
Le présent Guide ne s'applique ni aux normes qui contiennent des méthodes d'évaluation pertinentes de la performance pour l'environnement qui ne sont pas évaluées par des essais (par exemple, évaluation par examen ou simulation) ni aux autres aspects non liés à l'environnement, comme la compatibilité électromagnétique (CEM) et les champs électromagnétiques (EMF, Electromagnetic Fields).
Le présent Guide ne comprend aucune recommandation pour déterminer si tous les aspects pertinents pour l'environnement sont couverts par une norme de l'IEC. Le présent Guide ne donne pas non plus de recommandations pour déterminer si une méthode d'évaluation de la performance a été correctement identifiée comme pertinente pour l'environnement.
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IEC GUIDE 121 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-11
GUIDE
Securing credible environmentally relevant performance assessment methods in
standards
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IEC GUIDE 121 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-11
GUIDE
Securing credible environmentally relevant performance assessment methods in
standards
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 13.020.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-7758-4
– 2 – IEC GUIDE 121:2023 IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 6
3.1 Terms and definitions related to standards . 7
3.2 Terms and definitions related to the environment . 7
3.3 Terms and definitions related to credibility and metrology . 8
3.4 Other terms and definitions . 10
3.5 Abbreviated terms . 10
4 Principles for ensuring credible environmentally relevant performance
assessments . 10
4.1 General . 10
4.2 Representativeness . 11
4.3 Measurement repeatability . 11
4.4 Measurement reproducibility . 12
4.5 Measurement accuracy . 12
4.6 Cost of testing . 12
4.7 Anti-circumvention . 12
4.8 Review of standards . 13
5 Requirements for ensuring credible environmentally relevant performance
assessment methods . 13
5.1 General . 13
5.2 Identifying environmentally relevant assessment methods . 13
5.3 Drafting credible environmentally relevant performance assessment methods. 15
5.3.1 Overview . 15
5.3.2 Representativeness . 16
5.3.3 Measurement and costs . 17
5.3.4 Minimizing the risk of circumvention . 17
5.4 Review of standards . 18
6 Guidance for ensuring credible environmentally relevant performance assessment
methods . 18
6.1 General considerations when applying the principles of credibility. 18
6.2 Guidance on assessing the representativeness of environmentally relevant
performance assessment methods . 18
6.3 Guidance to reduce the risk of circumvention of environmentally relevant
performance assessment methods . 20
Annex A (informative) Practical examples . 22
Bibliography . 24
Figure 1 – Identification of an environmentally relevant assessment method or parts
thereof . 14
Figure 2 – Systematic approach for drafting standards with credible environmentally
relevant performance assessment methods . 16
Table A.1 – Examples of non-representativeness and circumvention . 22
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
SECURING CREDIBLE ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT METHODS IN STANDARDS
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
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any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
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9) IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). IEC takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in
respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC had not received notice of (a) patent(s), which
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the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at https://patents.iec.ch. IEC
shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC Guide 121 has been prepared by the Advisory Committee on Environmental Aspects
(ACEA).
The text of this IEC Guide is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
SMBNC/43/DV SMBNC/52/RV
Full information on the voting for the approval of this Guide can be found in the report on voting
indicated in the above table.
The language used for the development of this Guide is English.
– 4 – IEC GUIDE 121:2023 IEC 2023
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and
developed in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC
Supplement, available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types
developed by IEC are described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/standardsdev/publications.
INTRODUCTION
The IEC has been developing and publishing standards to support industry and other
stakeholders for over 100 years, and the last few decades have seen an increase in the
importance of standards that address environmental matters. The protection of people from the
potential safety hazards of products has always been an important aspect in the portfolio of
standards developed by the IEC, and today society at large is also demanding that products do
not damage the world in which we live.
Therefore, there is a growing demand for publications that include assessment methods to
determine whether a product can cause harm to the Earth's ecosystem. For instance, the
quantification of hazardous emissions to the environment (for example, fluorinated or other
greenhouse gases) helps to counteract climate change.
The possible harm to the Earth's environment can be caused either directly by a product, for
example, through the emission of harmful substances such as greenhouse gases or other toxic
pollutants directly to land, water, or air during manufacture, use, or end-of-life phase, or
indirectly by the consumption of resources such as energy or water (called "inputs") by a
product. These can affect the environment through, for example, emissions coming from the
production of such inputs and the depletion of the Earth's resources.
IEC and other international standards are expected to provide commonly agreed, objective and
unbiased assessment methods to determine, amongst other things, quantitative properties of a
product or system, such as CO emission or energy consumption. The measurement result can
then be used to prepare an associated declaration to demonstrate the conformity of the product
to specified requirements. Even if IEC standards do not include assessment methods to assess
the dire
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