The EU’s eco-label requirements were recently modernized to reflect several changes within the paint and coatings sector, including technological changes, in a way that is fundamentally driven by the EU’s desire for greater circularity and by considering the complete lifecycle of paints and varnishes.

Opportunity has also been taken to break things down into clearer category definitions, as the paint and coatings sector is seen as one of the most important ones for the eco-label.  The clearer category definitions include:

• Decorative interior paints: conventional coatings used for domestic and office walls.

• Performance coatings: high-durability formulations for high-traffic areas or specialised surface needs.

• Water-based aerosol sprays: spray formulations, which are now subject to stricter safety limits.

The new criteria introduce the following:

• Lower limits for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) to reduce emissions during application.

• Strict thresholds for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which address longer-term indoor exposure, which help to improve indoor air quality.

• Updated fitness-for-use criteria to ensure alignment with industry practices aimed to accurately account for best performance products.

• Updated preservative limits, balancing product performance and durability with stronger environmental protection.

Updating Paint and Varnish Criteria

The EU has updated its paint and varnish criteria with a focus on emissions over time, covering the three paint families listed in the EU Ecolabel paints and varnishes product scope, namely decorative paints, performance coatings, and water-based aerosol spray paints.

This now places a greater focus on emission levels over two distinct periods of time, namely three days and 28 days (so-called off-gassing), leading to a so-called R-value or critical ratio designed to inform decisions on long-term health risks based on inhalation largely in the home or professional environment.

These new markers are based on the total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) at those two distinct stages. Two thresholds will come into effect: one of them is for the TVOC and the second one is for residual formaldehyde. The key measures are TVOC ≤ 3,000 μg/m³ per cubic metre by day 3 and ≤ 300 μg/m³ at day 28; R-value ≤ 1.0 at day 28. For formaldehyde, which has long been associated with sick-building syndrome, the key figure is ≤ 10 μg/m³ at day 28.

Although the updated regulation is seen as stringent on solvents and emissions etc., it stands as an effort to make consumers more aware of the distinction between chemical content and a more personal second dimension of their pulmonary health. The new EU eco-label requirements will now be applicable until the end of January 2032.

Regulatory Concerns Linger in the UK

In the UK, the British Coatings Federation (BCF), along with Adam Jogee, MP, hosted a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons in late March, against the backdrop of World Paint and Coatings Week.

The event was an opportunity to demonstrate the progress the UK industry is making toward a more sustainable future and to illustrate how coatings innovation continues in its critical role with regard to many aspects of the UK’s environmental and economic ambitions.

Chris McDonald, MP, the current industry minister, and Mary Creagh, MP, the minister for waste and recycling, were among more than 20 MPs and peers who were in attendance.

Tom Bowtell, CEO of the BCF, took the opportunity to highlight key policy challenges facing the coatings sector drawn from all parts of the corporate landscape, everything energy and raw material prices to employers’ overheads, green energy support, skills and training.

A particularly important aspect was the legislative angle in the post-Brexit era, urging the UK government to find more workable and more cost-effective solutions that bridge any differences between registrations in the UK and the EU, something more akin to the Swiss Model Approach.

Recapping on the opportunity to be able to get such points across to a cross-section of attending MPs, Bowtell said, “I am really pleased with the turnout for the reception, with more than 20 MPs coming to hear more about our sector and to speak with our members and other stakeholders. It was a good opportunity to put firmly on record the concerns our sector still has with UK REACH and to urge the government, even at a very late hour, to rethink its proposals, which currently look as though they will still add significant burdens onto industry. I was also particularly pleased to be able to talk to both Ministers McDonald and Creagh about the coatings sector’s ambitions for our PaintCare initiative. If we can get this right, it will be a major win for the sector and for government in creating a more circular economy.”

Indeed, the latest delay in UK REACH legislation debating and enactment until October 2026 within the House of Commons is seen as offering a last-gasp window and a late chance for representatives of industry to put their case, as above. It provides time for the government to finalise the Alternative Transitional Registration Model (ATRm), and reduces the burden on industry to compile detailed data sets by the original 2026 date.

Part of the broader problems for the UK industry are the so-called green-washing claims that exploit the ill-informed consumer, and which prevail in a climate of inconsistent enforcement, especially where the classification of VOCs is concerned. Inevitably this leads to an uneven playing field for the paint and coatings industry, one where the heavy lifters are seen working on research- , labor- and verification-intensive developments of sustainable paint and coating formulations, while the minnows of industry slip through the net with more generic claims of non-toxicity or other broad eco-credentials, etc., which actually hold true for most other paints.

Furthermore, these moves and discrepancies don’t just apply to the formulations; they are applicable across corporate efforts and initiatives to develop more eco-friendly, more sustainable packaging designs, too. The industry needs more rigorous support in enforcing regulations at all levels, and greater support in effecting the transitions to achieving more rigorous environmental compliance, which are very costly to industry and are likely to saddle it with even more burdens.

The UK’s ex-EU status has also introduced a broadening gap between UK requirements for eco-friendly coatings for those wishing to export to EU countries. Brexit now means the UK industry is adrift of any kind of bigger legislation and the Green Claims Directive, which will only complicate matters further for exporters. But some may yet be caught out! Any prevailing, nebulous greenness claims for paints in the UK, where smaller paint makers are escaping through lax loopholes, may yet be haunted by the spectres of the need to be able to prove such claims if more stringent enforcement and authority are brought to bear.