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  4. Office and hobby supplies 057

Office and hobby supplies 057

Nordic Swan Ecolabel office and hobby supplies have a reduced environmental and climate impact throughout their lifecycle – and strict requirements for recycled materials, chemicals and quality, which promote circular economy.

The requirements include:

  • Environmental and health properties of substances used in chemical products such as paint, glue and ink. E.g. substances classified to cause cancer, damage genes or damage reproductive ability are not allowed, as well as heavy metals, perfumes, phthalates and bisphenols.
  • Use of a high proportion of recycled or renewable materials.
  • Limits for use of metal parts.
  • Use of wood that is legally harvested and traceable – and at least 70% is sourced from certified forestry.
  • The packaging has a high proportion of recycled or renewable materials.
  • Quality tests.

Nordic Swan Ecolabel office and hobby supplies include writing instruments, hobby paints (e.g. finger paints), office and hobby glue, adhesive tape, erasers and rulers.

There are 313 Ecolabelled products from 5 companies within productgroup.

  • Welcome to apply for a Nordic Swan Ecolabel licence!

    This is how you do:

    1. Read the application guide.
    2. Log in to the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal.
    3. Start your application.

     

    If this is the first time you are applying, the authorized signatory must fill in your company information and approve the application conditions. In this way, you get login to the portal and the right to assign access to other colleagues.

     

    Request login

    To the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal

    Some special cases can not be done in the Nordic Ecolabelling Portal. Contact your advisor for such cases. More information can be found on "Application step by step".

  • The criteria document for office and hobby supplies is an overall document for the commodity groups:
     

    • Hobby paint and decoration materials
    • Tape, glue, correction tape, etc.
    • Writing instruments and erasers
       

    Fees are charged per commodity group according to the price list below.
     

    Valid from 1 January 2025 Amount excluding VAT

    Application fee

    Application for a new licence 3 348 EUR
    Application for a renewed licence when the requirements have been tightened 1 673 EUR

    Annual licence fee

    The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products is based on their turnover in the Nordic countries The fee is 0,3 % of the products' turnover in the Nordic countries up to 30,9 million EUR.
    The fee is 0,05 % of the products' turnover in the Nordic countries for the amount exceeding 30,9 million EUR.
    Minimum fee in the Nordic countries 2 232 EUR per year.
    Fixed fee that is added for sales outside the Nordic countries 2 232 EUR per year if the turnover exceeds 309 000 EUR.

    Fee for extension / change of licence

    Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.

    Up to 4 hours 418 EUR
    4–8 hours 836 EUR
    8 or more hours 1 673 EUR

    Fee for on-site inspections

    One on-site inspection in the Nordic countries is included when applying for a new or renewed licence.

    Additional on-site inspection within the Nordic countries 557 EUR per visit.
    On-site inspection outside the Nordic region, but within Europe 1 673 EUR per visit.
    On-site inspection outside Europe 2 790 EUR per visit.
    Additional fee for on-site inspections lasting longer than one day 1 115 EUR per day.

    Ecolabelling Sweden AB has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with an annual government grant. The company is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the European Council Directive 2006/112/EC.

    Invoicing is made in SEK with the exchange rate from the first banking day of the year.

    When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the application fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.

    The criteria document for office and hobby supplies is an overall document for the commodity groups:
     

    • Hobby paint and decoration materials
    • Tape, glue, correction tape, etc.
    • Writing instruments and erasers
       

    Fees are charged per commodity group according to the price list below.
     

    Valid from 1 January 2024 Amount excluding VAT

    Application fee

    Application for a new licence 3 251 EUR
    Application for a renewed licence when the requirements have been tightened 1 625 EUR

    Annual licence fee

    The licence fee for the Nordic Swan Ecolabelled products is based on their turnover in the Nordic countries The fee is 0,3 % of the products' turnover in the Nordic countries up to 30 million EUR.
    The fee is 0,05 % of the products' turnover in the Nordic countries for the amount exceeding 30 million EUR.
    Minimum fee in the Nordic countries 2 167 EUR per year.
    Fixed fee that is added for sales outside the Nordic countries 2 167 EUR per year if the turnover exceeds 300 000 EUR.

    Fee for extension / change of licence

    Fixed fee that is charged depending on how long the work takes.

    Up to 4 hours 406 EUR
    4–8 hours 812 EUR
    8 or more hours 1 625 EUR

    Fee for on-site inspections

    One on-site inspection in the Nordic countries is included when applying for a new or renewed licence.

    Additional on-site inspection within the Nordic countries 541 EUR per visit.
    On-site inspection outside the Nordic region, but within Europe 1 625 EUR per visit.
    On-site inspection outside Europe 2 709 EUR per visit.
    Additional fee for on-site inspections lasting longer than one day 1 083 EUR per day.

    Ecolabelling Sweden AB has no financial profit purpose and is financed through the fees above along with an annual government grant. The company is however liable for VAT according to article 56 of the European Council Directive 2006/112/EC.

    Invoicing is made in SEK with the exchange rate from the first banking day of the year.

    When both the applicant and the manufacturer are micro-enterprises, the application fee is reduced by 50%. A micro-enterprise is in this context defined as an enterprise with less than 10 employees and an annual turnover (of both ecolabelled and not ecolabelled products) below 2 million EUR.

    • For new applications granted after 1 July, a fee reduction will apply for the first year. The minimum or maximum fee and any breakpoint will be multiplied by the result of the following formula: “number of remaining days in the year” x 2 / 365.
      Breakpoint = Turnover where the percentage changes in the calculation of licence fee.
      Minimum fee = the lowest licence fee Nordic ecolabelling annually invoices a company or a Group per product/ commodity group/ certifying country.

      Should a former holder of a license/registration continue to make use of the Nordic Ecolabel without being granted a new license/registration, the Nordic Ecolabelling organization reserves the right to claim financial compensation. The size of such compensation shall be equivalent to the turnover-based license fee that a licensee would have been required to pay for a license, and a financial penalty, the severity of which is determined by the extent and duration of the infringement as well as the damages that Nordic Ecolabelling may have incurred as a result of such misuse. Such a financial penalty should not normally be less than EUR 4,000 (four thousand). The Nordic Ecolabelling organizations may also take legal action against the infringement of the Nordic Ecolabel or if rules in the prevailing version of the Logo Guideline for the Nordic Ecolabel are not fulfilled.

    Fee regulations for Nordic Ecolabellling

  • Information on the latest version of the criteria for office and hobby supplies

    5.0: New criteria generation

    Nordic Ecolabelling adopted version 5.0 of the criteria for Nordic Swan Ecolabelling of Office and hobby supplies on 26 August 2024. The criteria are valid until 30 September 2029.

    4.16 ⇛ 4.17: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria

    The validity of the criteria has been prolonged with 6 months. The new version is called 4.17 and is valid until 31 December 2025.

    4.15 ⇛ 4.16: Adjustment of the criteria

    Clarification in requirement O23 that the test for 1,3-butadiene only applies to synthetic latex. 

    The new version is called 4.16 and is valid until 30 June 2025.

    4.14 ⇛ 4.15: Adjustment of the criteria

    Requirement O7 has been adjusted regarding exemption for titanium dioxide (TiO2): from 1 June 2023 the exemption does not apply to the following products for children: chalk, crayons, colour pencils and hobby paints.

    The new version is called 4.15 and is valid until 30 June 2025.

    4.13 ⇛ 4.14: Prolongation of the validity of the criteria

    The validity of the criteria has been prolonged with 12 months. The new version is called 4.14 and is valid until 30 June 2025.

    4.12 ⇛ 4.13: Adjustment of the criteria

    Requirement O7 has been adjusted for exemptions for preservatives and a new exemption for acute tox 4. In addition, requirement O14 has been adjusted for permitted amounts and classifications and specific requirements for isothiazolinones have been deleted. The new version is 4.13.

    4.11 ⇛ 4.12: Adjustment and prolongation of the validity of the criteria

    Requirements O7 and O21 have been adjusted. In addition, the validity of the criteria has been extended by 18 months. The new version, 4.12, is valid until 30 June 2024.

    4.10 ⇛ 4.11: Adjustment of criteria

    Requirements O7 and O14 have been adjusted regarding an exemption for ethylhexylglycerine as a preservative aid. The new version, 4.11, is valid until 31 December 2022.

    4.9 ⇛ 4.10: Adjustment of criteria

    Requirement O14 has once again been adjusted regarding an exception for up to 10000 ppm phenoxyethanol. The validity of the criteria document is until 31 December 2022. The new criteria version is called 4.10.

    4.8 ⇛ 4.9: Adjustment of criteria

    Requirement O14 has been altered regarding an exception for up to 1000 ppm phenoxyethanol. The validity of the criteria document is until 31 December 2022. The new criteria version is called 4.9.

    4.7 ⇛ 4.8: Prolongation of criteria

    The criteria have been prolonged with 24 months. The new version is called 4.8 and is valid until 31 December 2022.

    4.5 and 4.6⇛ 4.7: Alteration of criteria

    Requirement O5 has been altered regarding primary packaging and requirement O38 Return systems has been taken away. (Unpubliced version 4.6). Futhermore, requirement O7 has been altered regarding methanol from polyvinyl alcohol. The new version is called 4.7 and is valid until 31 December 2020.

    4.4 ⇛ 4.5: Alteration of criteria

    Nordic Ecolabelling Criteria Group decided on 7 June 2017 to adjust requirement O7 regarding formaldehyde in the binder of hobby paint. The validity of the criteria document is until 31 December 2020. The new criteria version is called 4.5.

    4.3 ⇛ 4.4: Alteration of criteria

    Nordic Ecolabelling Criteria Group decided on 15 May 2017 to impplement Nordic Ecolabelling's new forestry requirements as an alternative to the present forestry requirements. The validity of the criteria document is until 31 December 2020. The new criteria version is called 4.4.

    4.2 ⇛ 4.3: Prolongation of criteria

    Nordic Ecolabelling Criteria Group approved on 7 February 2017 to prolong the validity of the criteria document until 31 December 2020. The new criteria version is called 4.3.

    4.1 ⇛ 4.2: Alteration of criteria

    Adjustments have been made in requirement O6, so that the exclusion of classification with H318/R41 now only applies for products marketed to children, as well as office/hobby paints and crayons. The new version, 4.2, is valid until December 31st 2018.

    4.0 ⇛ 4.1: Alteration of criteria

    • O13: The requirement now contains hazad and r-phrases.
    • O7 & O14: Adjustments have been made in requirements O7 and O14 in relation to the use of other preservation than isothiazolinones.
    • O46: Requirement O46, Marketing, has been removed.

    The new version, 4.1, is valid until December 31st 2018.

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