EU Ecolabel criteria for furniture and paints: formaldehyde, VOC and recycled content limits, licence fees and the 2025 figures

The EU Ecolabel is the European Union's voluntary environmental label, and two of its product groups reach interiors directly: furniture, under Commission Decision (EU) 2016/1332, and paints and varnishes, under Commission Decision (EU) 2025/2607. Each decision sets numeric limits on hazardous substances, emissions, recycled content and durability, and Regulation (EU) No 782/2013 sets the fees a manufacturer pays for the licence.

What the EU Ecolabel is and which interior products it covers

The EU Ecolabel is a voluntary label awarded under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 to products that meet criteria adopted by the European Commission for each product group, and two product groups cover interior work: furniture, whose criteria are set in Commission Decision (EU) 2016/1332 of 28 July 2016, and paints and varnishes, whose criteria were renewed in Commission Decision (EU) 2025/2607 of 17 December 2025. Other groups reach interiors indirectly, including textiles, bed mattresses, hard coverings and wooden floor coverings.

The furniture criteria define the product group as free-standing or built-in units whose primary function is the storage, placement or hanging of items, or the provision of surfaces where users rest, sit, eat, study or work, indoors or outdoors, in domestic or contract settings, according to the consolidated text of Decision (EU) 2016/1332 on EUR-Lex. The group excludes bed mattresses, products whose main function is not furniture such as railings, ladders, mirrors, doors and floor coverings, furniture in vehicles, second-hand or refurbished furniture, and any product in which unlisted materials exceed 5 percent by weight.

The consolidated text states that the furniture criteria and their assessment and verification requirements are valid until 31 December 2026. The paint criteria adopted in December 2025 are valid until 31 December 2032.

EU Ecolabel furniture criteria: the eleven criteria in Decision (EU) 2016/1332

Decision (EU) 2016/1332 sets eleven criteria for furniture, ordered by material: product description, hazardous substances, wood, cork, bamboo and rattan, plastics, metals, upholstery covering materials, upholstery padding, glass, final product requirements, consumer information and the wording on the label. The criteria are written per material, the decision explains, because most furniture products contain only one or two of the listed materials.

Criterion in Decision (EU) 2016/1332	Limit or requirement
2: substances of very high concern	none at or above the concentration limit, checked against the ECHA candidate list
3: formaldehyde from wood-based panels	below 50 percent of E1; below 65 percent of E1 for MDF; E1 = 0.1 ppm (0.124 mg/m3) after 28 days to EN 717-1
3 and 5: heavy metals in coatings	cadmium, lead, chromium VI, mercury, arsenic and selenium each below 0.010 percent w/w
3 and 5: VOC in coating operations	in-can VOC 5 percent or less, or less than 30 g/m2 of coated surface
4: recycled plastic	at least 30 percent w/w on average where plastic exceeds 20 percent of the product
9.2: extended guarantee	at least five years from delivery at no extra cost
9.3: spare parts	available for at least five years from delivery

The formaldehyde limit is the criterion that changes the bill of materials. E1 is the ordinary European limit for panels sold in construction and furniture, and the Ecolabel takes half of it for particleboard and plywood and 65 percent of it for MDF, so a manufacturer must either source low-emission panels or test the ones it already buys.

The coatings limits work as a pair. A finish may pass by in-can VOC content of 5 percent or less, or by an applied quantity below 30 g/m2 of coated surface; between 30 g/m2 and 60 g/m2 the decision requires surface quality testing to show that the extra coating is needed.

The final product criteria tie the label to the European furniture standards. Criterion 9 requires fitness for use under the relevant EN standards for the product type, so an Ecolabel office chair is also an EN 1335 chair and an Ecolabel kitchen unit is also an EN 14749 unit, as described in the article on EN 1335-1 office chair dimensions and EN 14749 storage requirements.

The 2025 paint criteria: VOC, SVOC and spreading rate limits

Commission Decision (EU) 2025/2607, adopted on 17 December 2025 and published on EUR-Lex, limits the volatile organic compound content of an EU Ecolabel interior matt wall and ceiling paint to 10 g/l in the ready-to-use product, an interior glossy wall paint to 30 g/l, a trim and cladding paint for wood or metal to 60 g/l, varnishes and woodstains to 40 g/l to 60 g/l and primers to 10 g/l, according to the text of Decision (EU) 2025/2607. The decision replaces Decision 2014/312/EU, and licences issued under the old criteria may be used for 18 months from the date the new decision applies.

Paint category	VOC limit, 2025/2607 (g/l)	VOC limit, 2014/312/EU (g/l)
Interior matt walls and ceilings	10	10
Interior glossy walls and ceilings	30	40
Exterior mineral substrate	20	25
Trim and cladding, wood and metal	60	80
Interior varnishes and woodstains	40 to 60	65
Primers	10	15

The old limits come from Decision 2014/312/EU, adopted on 28 May 2014 and repealed with effect from 16 December 2025. The comparison shows where the 2025 revision tightened: glossy interior paint dropped from 40 g/l to 30 g/l, trim paint from 80 g/l to 60 g/l and primers from 15 g/l to 10 g/l, while matt interior wall paint stayed at 10 g/l.

Semi-volatile organic compounds have their own ceilings in the 2025 decision: 25 g/l to 30 g/l for most interior paints, 35 g/l for exterior wall paints, 40 g/l to 50 g/l for trim and cladding, and 30 g/l to 50 g/l for varnishes. Preservatives are limited to 0.080 percent for in-can preservatives (product type 6) and 0.50 percent for film preservatives in outdoor paint (product type 7).

Performance criteria stop a low-VOC paint from being a thin paint. An indoor white or light paint must cover at least 8 m2 per litre, an outdoor paint at least 6 m2 per litre and an elastomeric paint at least 4 m2 per litre. A paint that claims wet scrub resistance must reach class 1 or class 2 in the test, and the white pigment content is capped at 40 g/m2, 36 g/m2 or 25 g/m2 depending on the class claimed. The titanium dioxide production criterion applies to any paint containing more than 3.0 percent w/w of TiO2 pigment.

EU Ecolabel licence fees under Regulation (EU) No 782/2013

Regulation (EU) No 782/2013 sets the EU Ecolabel application fee at between 200 EUR and 2000 EUR, caps it at 600 EUR for small and medium-sized enterprises and for applicants in developing countries, and at 350 EUR for micro-enterprises, and allows an annual fee of up to 0.15 percent of the annual EU sales value of the labelled product with a ceiling of 25 000 EUR per product group per applicant, according to the regulation's text on EUR-Lex.

Fee element (Regulation (EU) No 782/2013)	Amount
Application fee, standard	200 EUR to 2000 EUR
Application fee, SMEs and developing-country applicants	600 EUR maximum
Application fee, micro-enterprises	350 EUR maximum
Reduction for EMAS registration	30 percent
Reduction for ISO 14001 certification	15 percent (not cumulative with EMAS)
Annual fee, percentage option	up to 0.15 percent of annual EU sales value
Annual fee, ceiling	25 000 EUR per product group per applicant
Annual fee, SMEs, micro-enterprises, developing countries	reduced by at least 25 percent

The fees do not include the cost of testing and verification by third parties or of on-site inspections, which the applicant pays separately, and competent bodies may charge an inspection fee. A furniture maker applying for a single product group with 4 million EUR of EU sales in the labelled range would therefore pay at most 2000 EUR to apply and at most 6000 EUR a year, plus laboratory costs for formaldehyde, VOC and durability tests.

Each EU member state names a competent body that handles applications, and fees are set nationally within the ceilings above, so the exact invoice depends on the country of application.

EU Ecolabel figures: 102 000 products and 3248 licences in April 2025

The European Commission reported on 15 April 2025 that more than 102 000 goods and services carried the EU Ecolabel under 3248 licences, a 3 percent rise in products over the previous year and a 5 percent rise in licences since September 2024, with paints and varnishes the largest group at 36 960 products, according to the Commission's Green Forum announcement.

EU Ecolabel figure, 15 April 2025	Value
Goods and services labelled	more than 102 000
Licences	3248
Paints and varnishes	36 960 products
Tissue paper and tissue products	18 958 products
Textiles	11 023 products
Hard surface cleaning products	8129 products
Tourist accommodation	837 establishments (25 percent of licences)
Share of licences: Italy, Spain, France, Germany	16, 15, 13 and 10 percent
Licence holders that are SMEs	around 57 percent

The European Environment Agency tracks the longer series. Products carrying the label rose from 21 000 in 2010 to 83 500 in 2021, a four-fold increase of 398 percent, and in the data to March 2022 paints and varnishes held 39 percent of products, tissue paper 17 percent, textiles 9 percent and hard coverings 9 percent, according to the EEA circularity metrics page on the EU Ecolabel. The EEA notes that absorbent hygiene products, furniture and indoor cleaning services showed the highest increments in that period.

Paint dominates the label for a structural reason. A paint range is licensed by formulation, so one licence can cover dozens of colours and pack sizes, while a furniture licence covers a product family with its own tests per material. The furniture group therefore holds a small share of products despite the size of the EU furniture industry, which is described with Eurostat figures in the article comparing interior costs across six EU countries.

How to check an EU Ecolabel claim on a chair or a paint tin

An EU Ecolabel claim can be checked in three steps: read the licence number printed with the flower logo, look the number up in the Commission's public product catalogue, and confirm that the product group and the licence holder match the product in hand.

1. Read the licence number printed beside the flower logo on the product or its documentation.
2. Search the number in the Commission's public EU Ecolabel product catalogue.
3. Confirm that the product group, the licence holder and the product name in the catalogue match the product in hand.

The label must show the licence number in the form of the country code and the registration number, and the optional text box may state the specific criteria met, as criterion 11 of the furniture decision sets out.

A furniture licence carries obligations after purchase. Criterion 10 requires consumer information on assembly, care, the extended guarantee under criterion 9.2 and the contact details for spare parts under criterion 9.3, so a buyer of Ecolabel furniture should receive a five-year guarantee document and a spare-parts contact.

The energy side of an interior has a separate mandatory label. Light sources sold in the EU carry the A to G energy label backed by the EPREL register, as explained in the article on the EPREL register and energy label for light sources. Fire performance of panels and finishes is declared separately again, under the EN 13501-1 fire classification described in the article on fire classes for interior finishes.