Our goal was to define the basis for a sustainability certification that covers all the relevant aspects of sustainability — the products themselves, all of the facilities where the products and their components are manufactured, and the management and production policies of the manufacturers. It was therefore necessary to formulate the requirements in the form of a standard. The reason why we decided to edit an association standard was our wish to provide total transparency for everyone.

We definitely do. It’s true that we already have many different environmental certifications for furniture, but most of them cover only a few aspects of sustainable behaviour. In addition, some certificates compete with one another, often on the basis of different test methods. As a consequence, even experts may find it difficult to tell which combination of existing certificates might be useful. That's why an accredited certification system with a wide scope and maximum transparency is necessary. Since no programme of this kind had been available in Europe, we decided to launch it on our own. Now it can be used worldwide due to its accreditation to ISO 17065.

The certification covers all of the relevant aspects of sustainability. The certification is structured according to the four impact areas Materials, Energy & Atmosphere, Management of Chemicals, and Social Responsibility. It is thus an ISO 14024 type I label.

ISO/IEC 17065 "Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services" is the strictest available standard for product certification programs in general. The scope and definitions of this standard are freely available here.

The standard lays down rules how a third party (the certification body) can be accredited (be allowed) to certify products by a standard that is owned by the standard owner that itself is not allowed to issue any certificates.

Only programmes that are designed according to strict European rules formulated by the association of European accreditation bodies "European Accreditation (EA)" are suitable for this. The central document is EA-1/22, plus the rules of the German accreditation body DAkkS which is in the case of Level the so called "home accreditation body".

The procedures for establishing a product certification program are defined in detail. For example, a public stakeholder process is mandatory when setting up a new certification scheme and everything must be well documented and be thoroughly checked by the national public accreditation institution.

The official accreditation to ISO 17065 makes the Level certification schemes different from other not ISO-accredited schemes without formal public accreditation acknowledgement by national bodies as DAkkS in Germany, ANAB in USA, Accredia in Italy or ENAC in Spain. Find all the responsible European accreditation bodies here.

Yes, it is. The rules for the declaration of compliance to that claim are laid down in ISO 14024 "Environmental labels and declarations - Type I environmental labelling - Principles and procedures". The scope and definitions of this standard are freely available here.

FEMB can provide the adequate written statement that the Level certificate complies to the requirements of this standard and can therefore meet all tenders requiring "Type I environmental labels".

Moreover, as Level also comprises social sustainability criteria, it exceeds the scope of this environmental claim by far.

Yes, the FEMB standard was developed with a comprising public stakeholder process. The requirements for this process are laid down in document EA-1/22 which is basis for accreditation to ISO 17065 is, see this FAQ topic. The stakeholder process is quite challenging because all probably involved stakeholders on a European scale had to be identified and contacted. Of course, everybody interested in the subject is free to contribute his/her questions and recommendations as well. The regular revisions of the standard consider all contributions.

The general assessment process and many of the requirements are the same, but the structure is a bit different from the BIFMA version. There is some different content as well, for example in the FEMB material section. The Level programme developed by FEMB has a global approach and takes European conditions into account. About 70% of the Level credits can generally be used for BIFMA 2019, and about 60% of the BIFMA 2019 credits can be used for Level.

No, there is no other sustainability standard or certification for furniture that takes a similar approach. Starting from scratch would have duplicated work that has already been done. In a time of globalization that did not seem appropriate, especially since BIFMA and FEMB are in close contact with each other. Actually, experts from BIFMA were members of the working group that developed the FEMB standard. Further communication between BIFMA and FEMB about a common approach toward ISO standardization has already been planned.

Partly, but the European version of Level will be a more overarching certification. For example, if a company has already had its products tested for noxious substances, the existing certificate will be acknowledged within the Level certification if it originates from accredited sources. This is the same way as we deal with EMAS or ISO 14001-certificates. For each credit, we name the directly acceptable certificates. Other certificates that have already been received may be honoured indirectly by evaluating their assessment data. Through the formal accreditation of the standard to ISO 17065 we have opened the door for worldwide use without having to manage this ourselves. Additionally it is an ISO 14024 type I label.

The name refers to the three conformance levels of the certification. Companies that are interested in receiving a certification for their products must fulfil all of the basic requirements defined in the standard. On top of these, they can also receive certification points. If they have gained enough certification points to pass the thresholds of each of the four impact areas, they can receive a Level 1 certification. If they gain additional points, they can rise to Level 2 or Level 3. The aim behind this structure is to initiate a process of continual improvement.

Certification always refers to a "worst case sampling" product. That means all products similar to the one assessed receive certification as well. The exact scope has to be agreed upon with the certification body.

That way, initial certification of a product/product line will cost about 2.000 € in average. Various factors influence the exact amount, beside others the number of production sites affected, the preparedness of the manufacturer and the total audit time. Every second year a surveillance audit is due with less time and effort. Every three years a re-certification is due similar to the initial audit.

Additional costs arise from the mandatory participation in the Level Certification Programm which costs 2.000 € per year per manufacturer. It does not depend on the number of products certified.

Each manufacturer should also consider the internal resources required to prepare for the audit and certification process.

This depends on the company’s level of preparation. Companies with a fully implemented sustainability management process will be able to get their first certificates within about three months. Companies that have all relevant processes in place but not yet prepared their data for evaluation might take about six months.

The owner of the Level brand is FEMB, but the certification process will be conducted completely independently of the association. Level is a third-party certification programme. All of the certification bodies must be accredited by national accreditation bodies.

The certification is open to all interested companies worldwide. It is not limited to FEMB members or to European companies.

You can find the standard under downloads.