Glossary of Terms

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Glossary of Terms

The following is a glossary of terms referenced in ISO environmental standards:

Consumer – individual member of the general public purchasing or using goods, property or services for private purposes.

Environmental Aspect – element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can interact with the environment.

Environmental Impact – any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s environmental aspects.

Environmental Label, Environmental Declaration – claim which indicates the environmental aspects of a product or service.

NOTE: An environmental label or declaration may take the form of a statement, symbol or graphic on a product or package label, in product literature, in technical bulletins, in advertising or in publicity, amongst other things.

Functional Unit – quantified performance of a product system for use as a reference unit.

Information Module – compilation of data to be used as a basis for a Type III environmental declaration, covering a unit process or a combination of unit processes that are part of the life cycle of a product.

Interested Party – person or body interested in or affected by the development and use of a Type III environmental declaration.

Life Cycle – consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) – compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) – phase of life cycle assessment aimed at understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential environmental impacts for a product system throughout the life cycle of the product.

PCR Review – process whereby a third party panel verifies the product category rules.

Product – any goods or service.

Product Category – group of products that can fulfill equivalent functions.

Product Category Rules (PCR) – set of specific rules, requirements and guidelines for developing Type III environmental declarations for one or more product categories.

Program Operator – body or bodies that conduct a Type III environmental declaration program.

NOTE: A program operator can be a company or a group of companies, industrial sector or trade association, public authorities or agencies, or an independent scientific body or other organization.

Third Party – person or body that is recognized as being independent of the parties involved, as concerns the issues in question.

NOTE: “Parties involved” are usually supplier (“first party”) and purchaser (“second party”) interests.

Type III Environmental Declaration – environmental declaration providing quantified environmental data using predetermined parameters and, where relevant, additional environmental information.

NOTE 1: The predetermined parameters are based on the ISO 14040 series of standards, which is made up of ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.

NOTE 2: The additional environmental information may be quantitative or qualitative.

Type III Environmental Declaration Program – voluntary program for the development and use of Type III environmental declarations, based on a set of operating rules.

Verifier – person or body that carries out verification.