EPD Library

Through our API, at the EPD owner’s request. Every declaration is published as a structured digital record, and Smart EPD shares published records with digital partners such as EC3 (Building Transparency). For EC3, the request is set up during scoping, when the EPD is given an EC3 product category, and Smart EPD pushes the EPD once it is published. The Smart EPD EPD Library remains the source record for anything shared onward: when a declaration is updated, expires or is withdrawn, Smart EPD updates or withdraws the shared record as well. A manufacturer does not upload the same declaration to each platform separately.

Sometimes, but only when the declarations meet the comparability conditions in ISO 14025. In practice that means the same product category definition and the same PCR, or PCRs that are equivalent in everything that affects the results: the same functional or declared unit, equivalent system boundaries, the same calculation and allocation rules, the same impact indicators and methods, and equivalent data quality. Both declarations also have to be valid at the time of comparison. EPDs built on different LCI databases, or on different versions of the same database, can have limited comparability, and so can EPDs that use different chain of custody models, such as mass balance. Declarations from different programs are written to different program rules, so these conditions are met less often across programs than within one. For construction products, ISO 21930 and EN 15804 also expect comparisons to be made in the context of the building, not product against product in isolation. Every Smart EPD declaration carries a comparability statement setting out its limits.

Each record carries its issue date, its expiry date and, where it has been updated, the date of its last update, and the QR code on every declaration links to its live record in the EPD Library. A standard declaration is valid for five years from publication, and a Prospective EPD for one year at most. The link to a declaration always shows its current published version: when an updated version is published, the previous one is marked as replaced and its links redirect to the new one. Before each anniversary of publication, Smart EPD contacts the EPD owner to check whether anything in the product, its operations or its supply chain has changed enough to affect the declaration. If a product or process change moves any declared indicator by more than 10 percent, the owner has to notify us, and the declaration is reassessed, updated and verified again before the update is published. Expired declarations leave the public listing automatically.

Report it. Anyone can raise a potential non-conformance or error in a published EPD: a competitor, a verifier, a specifier, a regulator or a member of the public. Email admin@smartepd.com, or use the non-conformance form on our Resources page if you prefer to stay anonymous. Include the EPD name and registration number, what you believe is wrong, and any supporting evidence, such as data that do not match or a PCR requirement that was not met. We complete a preliminary review within 30 days. If the report warrants investigation, we notify the EPD owner, the LCA practitioner and the verifier, and ask for clarification. A minor discrepancy is corrected through an update within 60 days. A significant non-conformance takes the EPD off the public listing until it is revised and verified again, within 90 days. If it is not corrected, the EPD can be deregistered.

Yes to both. Declarations are stored as digital records, and any one of them can be exported as a PDF, generated from the record itself, when a printable or downloadable version is needed. Every EPD and PCR under the program is published in English, and may be translated into other languages on request.

Cite the declaration by its registration number and link to its record in the EPD Library, which always shows the current version. You can use the Smart EPD logo with a registered, valid EPD under our Logo Usage Guidelines; request it from admin@smartepd.com. The logo shows that the EPD is registered in our program. It is not a certification mark, so do not describe the product as certified or endorsed by Smart EPD. Claims you build on the EPD are your responsibility, and any claim that your product performs better than another has to meet the ISO 14025 comparability conditions described under “Are EPDs from different programs comparable?

A declaration leaves the public listing when it expires, when an updated version replaces it (links to the old version redirect to the new one), while a significant non-conformance is being corrected, or when it is deregistered. With its Technical Advisory Board’s confirmation, Smart EPD deregisters a declaration if a significant non-conformance is not corrected within 90 days, the data behind it prove invalid, or a required update or annual review is not completed. The owner and the verifier are notified, records shared with partners such as EC3 are withdrawn, and the owner can appeal within 30 days. An owner can also ask us to withhold a declaration from public view, for example for a product made for a single client; its registry entry stays public.