IEC PAS 62545:2008

IEC/PAS 62545
Edition 1.0 2008-01
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
SPECIFICATION
Environmental Information on Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EIEEE)

IEC/PAS 62545:2008(E)
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IEC/PAS 62545
Edition 1.0 2008-01
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
SPECIFICATION
Environmental Information on Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EIEEE)

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
R
ICS 13.020, 43.040.10 ISBN 2-8318-9583-9

– 2 – PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3

INTRODUCTION.4

1 Scope.5

2 Normative references .5

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations .5

4 Methodology and rules to be followed in order to build up environmental
information on electrical and electronic equipment (EIEEE) .9
4.1 General .9
4.2 EIEEE for an environmentally homogeneous product category (EHPC) .11
5 Description of items to be considered when establishing an EIEEE frame.11
5.1 Information about the producer.11
5.2 Description of the product .12
5.3 Environmental aspect identification : reference product and methodology .12
5.4 Constitutive materials .12
5.5 Manufacturing process .12
5.6 Distribution.12
5.7 Use phase.13
5.8 End of life.13
5.9 Environmental impacts .13
5.10 Eco-solutions .15
5.11 Date of elaboration of the EIEEE.15

Annex A (informative) Life cycle impact category indicators .16

Bibliography.19

Figure 1 – General structure of the environmental information on electrical and
electronic equipment.10

PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION ON ELECTRICAL

AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (EIEEE)

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 co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To

this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
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3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
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patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
A PAS is a technical specification not fulfilling the requirements for a standard, but made
available to the public.
IEC-PAS 62545 has been processed by IEC technical committee 111: Environmental
standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems.
The text of this PAS is based on the This PAS was approved for
following document: publication by the P-members of the
committee concerned as indicated in
the following document
Draft PAS Report on voting
111/86/NP 111/93/RVN
Following publication of this PAS, the technical committee or subcommittee concerned will
investigate the possibility of transforming the PAS into an International Standard.
This PAS shall remain valid for an initial maximum period of 3 years starting from the date of
publication. The validity may be extended for a single three-year period, following which it
shall be revised to become another type of normative document, or shall be withdrawn.

– 4 – PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E)
INTRODUCTION
Global awareness of the urgency of preserving the natural environment has been resulting in

the developments of local, national, and/or international regulations on products, a growing

consciousness of consumers of products environmental impacts, and generally speaking a

growing involvement of every stakeholder in these matters.

This is resulting in an increasing need of exchanges of environmental information between all

actors of the product life cycle, from the raw material provider to the recycler, through the

manufacturer and the finished product end user. At every stage, needs in terms of content

and format of environmental information are different, and possible solutions to fit these

needs are multiple. But the key actor of this chain is definitely the producer, who must put on
the market products, which:
• are in conformity with the relevant environmental regulations,
• fulfil the technical and environmental requirements/expectations of users.

Every producer is then led to collect the necessary information upstream of the manufacturing
stage, and deliver product-related environmental information downstream.
Upstream information is so far being collected by individual producers from their numerous
suppliers. This means that every supplier is receiving as many requests as he has customers.
Though these requests generally deal with the same items, they are all different and require
customized answers.
In the same way, producers have to answer as many questionnaires as they have customers,
or to provide consumers with the information they are expecting. This long-standing situation
is more and more difficult to manage for companies because of the growing number of
questionnaires, most often very different in contents and format, and the increasing number of
answers to be provided. It is thus costly and burdensome for:
• every supplier to reply to a lot of different questionnaires,
• every producer to manage a huge quantity of data, and to deliver proper information.

But the main concern about the current situation is that it doesn’t ensure a level playing field
on the market. Current rules of play appear insufficient to avoid misunderstanding between
stakeholders, mistakes, false claims, which eventually lead to market distortion.
There are therefore clear and urgent needs for standardization to structure and harmonize
these exchanges of information.

At that time, many different ways of meeting these needs for providing environmental product
information exist. But existing systems all present some deficiencies (see Annex A), that this
PAS claims to solve.
PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E) – 5 –
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION ON ELECTRICAL

AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (EIEEE)

1 Scope
This PAS provides guidelines on generic environmental attributes to be considered by product

committees when preparing a declaration frame suited to a concerned product category to

disclose credible, relevant, and harmonized product related environmental information to who

needs or requests it. As a result, generic requirements to be followed by upstream suppliers

to deliver necessary information to downstream producers are also specified.
This PAS is stand-alone and only applicable if relevant requirements on environmental
aspects and impacts information does not exist in relevant product standard.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC/TR 62139:2004, Guidelines for the addition of environmental aspects in product
standards specific to TC23
ISO 8601, Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange —
Representation of dates and times

ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use
ISO 14020:2000, Environmental labels and declarations – General principles
ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and
framework
ISO 14050:2002, Environmental management – Vocabulary
IEC Guide 109:2003, Environmental aspects – Inclusion in electrotechnical product standards
IEC Guide 114:2005, Environmentally conscious design - Integrating environmental aspects

into product design and development of electrotechnical products
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
For the purposes of this document, the following terms, definitions and abbreviations are used.
NOTE In this PAS, the word “product” can be used in place of, and to mean “product family”, whose products
have no significant difference from an environmental point of view.
3.1 Terms and definitions
3.1.1
manufacturer
any person, company or organisation with ultimate responsibility

– 6 – PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E)
• to verify compliance with the appropriate standard(s),

• to provide product information

3.1.2
producer
any person who puts electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) on the market, i.e.

• either manufactures and sells EEE under his own trademark,

• or re-sells EEE manufactured by others, under his own trademark,

• or imports or exports EEE
3.1.3
distributor
any person who provides EEE on a commercial basis to the party who is going to use it
3.1.4
end-user
any person who uses an EEE
3.1.5
stakeholder
any person or institution having a stake in the outcome of a situation or decision
NOTE Stakeholders may include: employees, labour unions, government agencies, regulators, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, research groups, customers, suppliers, religious groups, indigenous
people, youth, and media.
3.1.6
bill of materials
list of constitutive elements of a product / subassembly / component / material
3.1.7
environmental aspect
element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can interact with the
environment
NOTE 1 A significant environmental aspect is an environmental aspect that has, or can have, a significant
environmental impact.
NOTE 2 For example, energy consumption is, in many cases, the major environmental aspect of electrical or
electronic products.
[IEC Guide 109, definition 3.4, as taken from ISO 14001]
3.1.8
environmental impact
change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partly resulting from an
organization’s activities, products or services.
NOTE For example, energy consumption of a product has several environmental impacts through the energy
production process, such as contributions to the greenhouse effect or to acidification of the environment.
[IEC Guide 109, definition 3.5, as taken from ISO 14001]
3.1.9
life cycle
consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or
generation of natural resources to the final disposal

PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E) – 7 –
[IEC Guide 109, definition 3.8, as taken from ISO 14040]

3.1.10
life cycle thinking
LCT
consideration of all relevant environmental aspects (of a product) during the entire (product)

life cycle
[IEC Guide 109, definition 3.10]

3.1.11
life cycle approach
LCAp
methodology to take account of all phases of the product life cycle (including manufacturing,
distribution, use and disposal) in order to identify its significant environmental aspects and get
a true global improvement of environmental performances.
[IEC/TR 62139, definition 3.3, modified]
3.1.12
life cycle assessment
LCA
compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a
product system throughout its life cycle
[IEC Guide 109, definition 3.9, modified, as taken from ISO 14040]
3.1.13
life cycle inventory analysis
LCI
phase of life cycle assessment involving the compilation and quantification of inputs and
outputs for a given product throughout its life cycle
[ISO 14050 – definition 5.3.1]
3.1.14
environmental information on EEE
EIEEE
set of information describing the environmental aspects of the product along its life cycle
(material production, manufacturing, distribution, use and end of life)

3.1.15
product environmental profile
PEP
particular form of EIEEE which describes both environmental aspects and environmental
impacts of the product along its life cycle (material production, manufacturing, distribution,
use and end of life)
3.1.16
eco-solutions
products or services allowing reduction of environmental impacts of a system in which they
are a component
NOTE Examples of such eco-solutions are speed-drivers, movement detectors, heating regulators, whose
functions can offer significant contributions to reduction of energy consumptions in buildings, plants, etc.

– 8 – PAS 62545 © IEC:2008(E)
3.1.17
functional unit
quantified performance of a product system for use as a reference unit in a life cycle

assessment study
[ISO 14025, definition 3.14]
3.1.18
environmentally homogeneous product category

EHPC
group of products that have equivalent functional unit(s) and equivalent technical option(s)

and that present environmental impacts which can be extrapolated from one product to
another (e.g. in a linear function of product mass)
NOTE This definition is an adaptation of the definition of “product category” given in ISO 14025, definition 3.12,
to address the diversity of EEE.
3.1.19
reference product
representative product of the EHPC used for extrapolating environmental impacts of any
product of the EHPC
3.1.20
life cycle impact category indicator
quantifiable representation of an impact category
[ISO 14050, definition 5.3.2.1.1]
NOTE Examples of commonly used indicators are given in Annex A.
3.1.21
hazardous waste
specific waste having a certain level of toxicity and requiring a special treatment
3.1.22
non-hazardous waste
waste without toxicity
3.1.23
waste treatments
operations which aim at reducing the amount of ultimate residues to be disposed of in landfill

NOTE 1 Examples of waste t
...