The Ecological Conscience of the carpet industry

On December, 4th 1990 leading European carpet manufacturers founded the Association of Environmentally Friendly Carpets: GUT, Gemeinschaft umweltfreundlicher Teppichboden e.v., in Aachen, Germany. The aim of GUT is to improve continuously all environmental and consumer protection aspects throughout the life cycle of a textile floor covering (from production to installation, to use phase and recycling).

The European carpet industry, has revolutionized environmental standards for the flooring industry, by creating GUT and continuously upgrading GUT's environmental goals. In cooperation with officially recognized European testing institutions registered products are regularly controlled on the basis of GUT's test criteria.

Furthermore GUT promotes environmentally friendly solutions for the installation of carpets and provides objective information on all aspects of carpets. The intensive product testing on chemicals and emissions is the basis for ensuring consumer safety.

The European Carpet and Rug Association (ECRA), based in Brussels, Belgium, is an organization which groups the leading carpet manufacturers in Europe. The Association was established in 2005. The ECRA member companies account for approx. 85% of the the European production. At present over 50 leading carpet producers from 6 European countries are members of ECRA.

The ECRA is an international platform for the exchange of ideas and experience between it’s members. The focus of the Association's work revolves around research, development, the introduction of standards, representation at international trade fairs, evaluation of statistical data and active press office and public relations work.

ECRA's Purpose and Objectives

The Association represents and promotes the mutual interests of its members by:

• Promoting their general material, commercial and business interests, in particular by seeking to prevent unfair competition.
• Providing information and advice to members.
• Promoting the mutual interests of its members in respect of research, development and standards.

ECRA is guided by the following objectives:

• Information platform for members
• Development and care of business contacts among members
• Company-independent representation of interests on European level
• Point of contact for national and international organizations and associations
• Promotion of the image of carpet as a product
• Information for end users and dealers
• Promotion of innovation and leading quality
• Regulation of the market by means of active involvement in work on standards

PRODIS is the first comprehensive consumer information system that integrates information on environmental issues, consumer health and safety topics as well as information on use areas and additional characteristics of textile floor coverings.

PRODIS provides reliable information for consumers and professionals and is based on two elements:

• the GUT test system for VOC emissions and chemicals
• the Floor Covering Standard Symbols (FCSS). These symbols show the use and wear classes for carpet as well as the many additional product characteristics

PRODIS is more than a label of carpets. It is the visible sign of a renewed confidence in carpet. Carpet is not simply a solution for covering a floor, it is also the best choice.

In short, PRODIS stands for:

• Quality made according to EU standards (CE marking)
• Tested for the consumer’s health and safety
• Controlled by independent test houses

The GUT-PRODIS system was originally developed from the GUT label in 2007 and provided comprehensive information on the environmental characteristics of a product whilst protecting the health and safety of the consumer. As the system was developed, it provided reliable, transparent product information to consumers, retailers, architects and planners based on three elements:

• (A) The GUT test system for VOC emissions and chemical usage
• (B) The standardised FCSS symbols for product performance of carpets in use plus any additional properties. 
• (C) Product identification using a unique ID number and QR code

Since 2020, the GUT-PRODis label has been extended to become a comprehensive Product Passport. All new product information can now be checked online by using the 8-digit licence number and via a QR code. Existing products can still be checked using the unique ID number from the GUT label.

A standardized system of graphic symbols

Resilient, textile and laminate floor coverings have a number of specific characteristics and are grouped into a number of use classes.

A standardized system of graphic symbols has been developed in order to make the classification and to render these specific characteristics easily understandable and recognizable for the consumer.

Main characteristics: area use and luxury class

A carpet has to meet specific requirements according to wear, appearance retention and luxury. The minimum requirements depend on the use environment and differ between domestic and commercial use.

Use class: domestic or commercial

A distinction is made between carpets suitable for domestic use and carpets suitable for commercial use. In practice the latter means that the carpets can be used in areas with heavy traffic such as shops, hotels, offices…

The Vetterman test is an important test to determine the use class (domestic or commercial) and the use intensity within each class for which the carpet is suited. It is a wear test with which an appearance change due to traffic is simulated and assessed.

Domestic use

Commercial use

In order to get a “heavy use” 33 commercial use classification special requirements with regard to cut edge strength have to be met.

Luxury class:

Within each of these use classes carpets may vary in luxury. This can be expressed by the following symbols. These symbols for luxury are easy to understand. The highest luxury rating is class 5 with 5 crowns.

Additional characteristics

Besides basic requirements (area use and luxury), carpets are able to fulfill a large number of additional requirements, so that they can be installed and used in different use environments. Each of these additional features is visualised by an individual symbol.

Castor chairs

If castor chairs are used, the carpet pile, especially in those places where the chairs are used, is under extreme stress. Only carpets fulfilling the higher requirements according to a specific test procedure will be allowed to use these symbols.

Stairs

If carpets are used on stairs, those parts of the carpet on the edge of a step are under extreme stress. Based on specific test conditions it can be decided whether a carpet can be used on stairs continuously or only occasionally.

Underfloor heating

If a carpet is installed over an underfloor heating system the carpet has to have minimum insulating properties. Thermal resistance has to be lower than 0.17 m2 K/W. The symbol indicates that the carpet can be used in combination with underfloor heating systems.

Wet room

If carpets are to be used under circumstances where they might get wet they have to be dimensional stable and resistant to rotting. Generally this means that carpets containing natural fibres will not meet the respective requirements.

Slip resistance

According to EN 14041 floor coverings have to meet certain safety requirements. One of them is slip resistance. If this claim is made by the producer, the floor covering intended to be used under dry and non-contaminated (clean) conditions shall have a dynamic coefficient of friction > 0.30. In this case, symbol DS shall be used.

In all other cases, symbol NPD, No Performance Declared, has to be used. As shown by extensive test procedures all textile pile carpets floorcoverings meet the
criteria for DS.

Antistatic

This symbol indicates that the carpet has "antistatic" properties. This means that static electricity after walking on the carpet (body voltage) is immediately discharged.

Electrical resistance

Often, especially in professional environments, higher requirements have to be met, especially in rooms with electronic devices (computers etc). In those cases the symbols indicate for the specialist whether the flooring is "static dissipative" or "conductive".

Resistance to fraying

The symbol with the scissor indicates, especially for loop pile carpets, that the cutting edges and seams do not fray.

Sound absorption

If according to EN ISO 354 the sound absorption coefficient has been determined, this symbol can be used.

Acoustical impact noise

If according to EN ISO 140-6 the impact noise improvement has been determined this symbol can be used. The relevant value has to be mentioned in technical documents. All textile floorcoverings show an excellent impact noise improvement.

Light fastness

This icon indicates that the carpet meets the basic requirements for light-fastness (> = 5, for pastel shades> = 4) in accordance with test methods EN ISO 105-B02.

Mind the ‘light fastness’ symbol

This symbol means that the carpet was tested to determine if the colours stay fast. Carpets that have been subjected to this test and comply with the appropriate standards bear this ‘light fastness’ symbol. Discolouration will not quickly occur in these carpets. They are also known as UV-resistant carpets.

In North-West Europe we can assume that discolouration practically never occurs. With the limited number of hours of sun in our climate there is little or no danger of carpet discolouration.

Don’t let the pile fool you

Do you think you nevertheless notice discolouration? Don't be mistaken: sometimes it just seems that way. There are carpets with some parts appearing lighter than others. A carpet can appear to be another colour depending on how you look at it. This is because the piles are not standing fully upright. The colour of the piles is always darker on top than on the side of the piles. If you move your hand over the carpet in a certain direction you can see this colour difference. This is an intrinsic characteristic of a carpet and has nothing to do with discolouration.

Dimensional stability

Loose laid tiles have to fulfil additional requirements for shrinkage and extension (see EN 1407 Annex A or 1470; EN 13497; EN 15114). If these criteria are met the producer may use this symbol to indicate that the product is dimensionally stable.

Reaction to fire

Reaction to fire is strictly regulated in each EU member state. Today, new EU fire classes ranging from class F to class A ( A not relevant for carpets) replace the former national classifications.

Fire classes D, C and B are subdivided in the classes s1 and s2. Smoke density in case of s1 is lower than in case of s2 meaning the product has an overall better performance within the same fire class.

Which fireclass has to be met depends on specific national regulations.

In general, Efl is sufficient for private application. Fireclasses Cfl and Bfl are generally used only in the contract area.

If the producer cannot give any information about the fire behaviour of his product he has to label the product with the Ffl pictogram.

The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) lays down harmonised rules for the marketing of construction products in the EU. The Regulation provides a common technical language to assess the performance of construction products. It ensures that reliable information is available to professionals, public authorities, and consumers, so they can compare the performance of products from different manufacturers in different countries.

The Declaration of Performance is a key part of the Construction Products Regulation. It provides information on the performance of a product. Each construction product covered by a European harmonised standard or for which a European Technical Assessment has been issued needs this Declaration and has to be CE marked. This helps increase transparency and improves the functioning of the Single Market.

Source: www.europa.eu / Construction Products Regulation

The letters ‘CE’ appear on many products traded on the extended Single Market in the European Economic Area (EEA). They signify that products sold in the EEA have been assessed to meet high safety, health, and environmental protection requirements.

CE marking has been mandatory for all floor coverings for indoor use since 2007-01-01, as they fall under the so-called CPD, the ‘Construction Products Directive’ (89/106/EEC).

The letters "CE" are the abbreviation of French phrase "Conformité Européene" which literally means "European Conformity". The term initially used was "EC Mark" and it was officially replaced by "CE Marking" in 1993. 

A construction product bearing the CE marking allows the manufacturer to sell these products in all EU countries without additional marks or certificates. Together with the Declaration of Performance this will also help customers and final users to check the performance of the product and compare it with other products under the same technical approach. 

As the manufacturer the CE marking on a product means that we are assuring that the performance of the product you are buying is the same as what we are declaring and that it has been obtained using the right European technical specification.

The CE mark:

• indicates a product’s compliance with the "essential requirements" of the EU directives
• allows products to be “placed on the EU market”
• fosters “free movement of goods”
• serves as a basis for the “withdrawal of non-conforming products”

Carpets carrying the CE mark are allowed to be marketed in Europe. It is a declaration of compliance by the supplier - manufacturer or importer - with European legislation. 
 
Source: www.europa.eu / CE Marking