An EPD program operator runs the system under which Environmental Product Declarations are developed, verified and published. Smart EPD is an EPD program operator under ISO 14025. We set the program rules, convene the committees that write Product Category Rules, assign independent verifiers to each project, and publish verified declarations in a public registry as structured digital records. We do not carry out the life cycle assessments or prepare the EPDs, so we stay independent of the companies whose declarations we publish.

Verification is performed by independent verifiers approved under the Smart EPD program and listed publicly on our Resources page. Each one is certified as an LCA Certified Professional (LCACP) or LCA Reviewer (LCAR) through ACLCA or has comparable verification program, or has critically reviewed at least five LCA studies in the past seven years. All have at least five years of experience with multi-attribute LCAs, provide two letters of reference, and sign a self-declaration of independence and competence for every project under ISO 14071. A verifier with a conflict of interest has to recuse themselves.

Start with the rule, not the report. Check whether Product Category Rules cover your product. That may be a Smart EPD PCR, a PCR from another program operator, or, where its rules allow, a Part A PCR used on its own. Tell us which PCR you plan to use when you scope the project, so we can confirm it and set up the template. A new PCR is developed only where none applies. Commission or complete an LCA that follows that PCR and the relevant ISO standards. Create your project on the Smart EPD platform and upload the LCA report, and we assign an independent verifier to review it. You can draft the declaration in the PCR-specific template at any time, and the verifier reviews it once the LCA report is verified. After we check the EPD for completeness and you approve it, it is registered and published.

The first round of verifier comments typically comes back within two to three weeks of a verifier being assigned to a complete submission. Total time depends on things that sit outside the review itself: whether a PCR already exists for your product, how complete the LCA data is, and how quickly review comments are answered. Verifying an EPD tool takes longer than verifying a single EPD. Where a PCR has to be developed first, that is the longest part of the timeline, and it runs on a stakeholder committee schedule.

Beyond the declaration itself, the program covers:

• Product Category Rules, developed with committees of interested parties, put through open consultation and independent review, and published free for the whole category to use.
• LCA critical review panels, convened by Smart EPD with independent reviewers, for LCA studies that need a panel review under ISO 14044 and ISO 14071, such as studies supporting comparative assertions disclosed to the public.
• EPD generator tools and LCA platforms, pre-verified by an independent verifier under the Smart EPD program. Manufacturers can then publish at volume with a simplified verification of each EPD instead of re-checking the same ground every time.
• EPD optimization documents, which compare a product’s verified EPD with a baseline EPD to support green building credits such as LEED. An independent verifier reviews each one against Smart EPD’s comparability criteria.
• Product carbon footprints (PCFs) quantified to ISO 14067, and other product footprints such as water footprints to ISO 14046. An independent verifier verifies each one or the processes behind each one, and each is communicated in line with ISO 14026.

A digital EPD is a structured record rather than a document. The declaration lives as data: product, category, the rule it was built on, issue and expiry dates, markets of applicability, and the impact results as fields, with the verifier named on the record itself. That means it can be shared at your request with EC3 and other databases and tools through our API, read by software without anyone retyping it, updated at source, and checked against the registry at any time through the QR code on the declaration. Every Smart EPD declaration is still available as a PDF, but a PDF on its own has to be found, opened and read by a person before any of that happens.

The program is built on ISO 14025 for environmental product declarations and ISO 14020 for the general principles of environmental statements, with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 for life cycle assessment and ISO/TS 14027 for Product Category Rules. Construction products follow ISO 21930 or EN 15804, depending on the market, and electrical and electronic products follow IEC 63366. Carbon and water footprints are verified to ISO 14067 and ISO 14046 and communicated in line with ISO 14026. Mutual recognition with other programs follows ISO/TS 14029, chain of custody models such as mass balance follow the ISO 22095 series, and ISO 14071 guides how PCRs are reviewed. The General Program Instructions set out how these standards are applied, and they are published in full on our website. For the edition of ISO 14025 the program follows, see the next question.

ISO 14025:2026 has replaced the 2006 edition. It asks more of a program operator than the old text did: disclosed ownership, governance and revenue information, public digital registries of PCRs and EPDs, transparent voting and public consultation in PCR development, a complaints procedure that covers errors in published declarations, a competition law (anti-trust) policy, and participation in mutual recognition arrangements where appropriate and possible. It also recognizes that EPDs are increasingly generated with tools, and lets a program operator set requirements for verifying a tool so that the EPDs it produces can be verified in a simplified, streamlined way. In the Smart EPD program, an independent verifier we assign verifies each tool. The General Program Instructions currently in force are version 2.0 of March 2025, written against the 2006 edition. Several of the 2026 requirements already reflect how this program runs: the EPD library and the PCR library are public, every PCR and every revision of the General Program Instructions goes through open consultation, and anyone can report a non-conformance in a published declaration. A revised version written against the 2026 edition is in development. It will be open for at least 30 days of public consultation before it takes effect, and it will include a transition period for projects already under way. To take part in the consultation, contact us.

Apply through our verifier application form. Smart EPD assesses each applicant’s competence and independence, and monitors the work of approved verifiers once they are on the program. You need an LCACP or LCAR certification through ACLCA, a comparable certification, or a record of at least five critical reviews of LCA studies in the past seven years. You also need at least five years of experience with multi-attribute LCAs, expertise in the sectors and product categories you would review, knowledge of the relevant ISO and EN standards, and two letters of reference. Your first two verifications are a trial period, and we review each one internally for quality. Approved verifiers are listed publicly on our Resources page. You can express interest in open projects, but Smart EPD selects the verifier for each LCA and declaration, so that no EPD owner picks the person who reviews their work.

Yes, where Smart EPD holds a mutual recognition arrangement with that program. These arrangements follow ISO 14029 and set out the product categories and regions they cover, how long they run, and how declarations are verified, recognised and listed across the two programs. A declaration registered outside Smart EPD has to meet the terms of that arrangement as well as our own program rules. Smart EPD holds a mutual recognition arrangement with the EPD program of Institut Bauen und Umwelt e.V. (IBU) and is actively pursuing mutual recognition with several other programs. For a program not covered by an arrangement, contact us before you start, because the route depends on that program’s rules.