Commission Decision (EU) 2018/1702 of 8 November 2018 establishing the EU Ecolabel criteria for lubricants (notified under document C(2018) 7125) (Text with EEA relevance.)

The product group ‘lubricants’ shall comprise any lubricant falling within one of the following sub-groups: (a) the Total Loss Lubricants (TLL) sub-group, which shall comprise chainsaw oils, wire rope lubricants, concrete release agents, total loss greases and other total loss lubricants; (b) the Partial Loss Lubricants (PLL) sub-group, which shall comprise gear oils intended for the use in open gears, stern tube oils, two-stroke oils, temporary protection against corrosion and partial loss greases; (c) the Accidental Loss Lubricants (ALL) sub-group, which shall comprise hydraulic systems, metalworking fluids, closed gear oils intended for the use in closed gears and accidental loss greases.

For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply: (1) ‘lubricant’ means a product that is capable of reducing friction, adhesion, heat, wear or corrosion when applied to a surface or introduced between two surfaces in relative motion, or is capable of transmitting mechanical power. The most common ingredients are base fluids and additives; (2) ‘base fluid’ means a lubricating fluid which flow, ageing, lubricity and anti-wear properties, as well as its properties regarding contaminant suspension, have not been improved by the inclusion of additive(s); (3) ‘additive’ means a substance or mixture which primary functions are the improvement of one or several of the following aspects: flow, ageing, lubricity, anti-wear properties and contaminant suspension; (4) ‘substance’ means a chemical element and its compounds in the natural state or obtained by any production process, including any additive necessary to preserve its stability and any impurity deriving from the process used, but excluding any solvent which may be separated without affecting the stability of the substance or changing its composition; (5) ‘total loss’ means that the lubricant is fully released to the environment during use; (6) ‘partial loss’ means that the lubricant is partially released to the environment during use and the non-released part can be recovered for re-processing, recycling or disposal; (7) ‘accidental loss’ means that the lubricant is used in a closed system and can be released to the environment only incidentally and, after use, can be recovered for re-processing, recycling or disposal; (8) ‘chainsaw oil’ means a lubricant that is used to lubricate the bar and chain on one or more types of chainsaw; (9) ‘wire rope lubricant’ means a lubricant that is used to lubricate wire ropes which consist of several strands of metal wire held together to form a rope; (10) ‘concrete release agent’ means a lubricant that is used in the construction industry to prevent freshly placed concrete adhering to a surface, usually plywood, overlaid plywood, steel or aluminium; (11) ‘grease’ means a solid or semi-solid lubricant which contains a thickener in order to thicken or modify the rheology of the base fluid; (12) ‘gear oil’ means a lubricant made specifically for transmissions, transfer cases, and differentials in automobiles, trucks, and other machinery; (13) ‘stern tube oil’ means a lubricant used in the stern tube of a ship; (14) ‘two-stroke oil’ means a lubricant used in two-stroke engines; (15) ‘temporary protection against corrosion’ means a lubricant that is applied to a metal surface as a thin film in order to prevent water and oxygen from coming into contact with the metal surface; (16) ‘hydraulic systems’ means a lubricant by means of which power is transferred in hydraulic machinery; (17) ‘metalworking fluid’ means a lubricant designed for metalworking processes, such as cutting and forming, and whose main functions are cooling, reducing friction, removing metal particles, and protecting the work pieces, the tool, and the machine tool from corrosion.

In order to be awarded the EU Ecolabel under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, a lubricant shall fall within the product group ‘lubricants’ as defined in Article 1 of this Decision and shall comply with the criteria and related assessment and verification requirements set out in the Annex to this Decision.

The criteria for the product group ‘lubricants’ and the related assessment and verification requirements shall be valid until 31 December 2024.

For administrative purposes, the code number assigned to the product group ‘lubricants’ shall be ‘027’.

Decision 2011/381/EU is repealed.

1 Notwithstanding Article 6, applications for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within the product group ‘lubricants’ submitted before the date of adoption of this Decision shall be evaluated in accordance with the conditions laid down in Decision 2011/381/EU.

2 Applications for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within the product group ‘lubricants’ submitted within two months from the date of adoption of this Decision may be based either on the criteria set out in Decision 2011/381/EU or on the criteria set out in this Decision. Those applications shall be evaluated in accordance with the criteria on which they are based.

3 Where the EU Ecolabel is awarded, in accordance with the criteria set out in Decision 2011/381/EU, the EU Ecolabel may be used only until 31 December 2019.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.