The EU Ecolabel for household detergents — The EU Ecolabel is the official European Union label for environmental excellence

Overview

A two-page consumer-facing factsheet dated September 2024, issued by RAL gGmbH (the German national competent body for the EU Ecolabel) jointly branded with the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV), and the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt). The factsheet summarises which household detergents are eligible for the EU Ecolabel award (eight named product categories: all-purpose cleaners, kitchen cleaners, window cleaners, sanitary cleaners, laundry detergents, hand dishwashing detergents, dishwasher detergents, and pre-treatment stain removers), the five high-level guarantee headings the EU Ecolabel offers for these products, the criteria families behind each guarantee, and the application-fee structure for applicants licensing the mark through RAL gGmbH in Germany. It is a programme-communication document, not a criteria-decision document.

Heavy-metal relevance is indirect and unquantified. The factsheet names no specific heavy metal anywhere in its two pages. It states a “strict ban on EDTA (and its salts), microplastics, and triclosan” (p. 2) — EDTA is named as a banned ingredient on its own environmental-mobility and biodegradability grounds rather than as a heavy-metals criterion, but EDTA is a strong chelating agent for divalent and trivalent transition metals, and an EDTA ban incidentally reduces the formulated mobilisation of heavy-metal cations in EU-Ecolabelled household detergents. The factsheet’s “low use of hazardous substances” guarantee (p. 2) names five hazard endpoints — acute toxicity, specific target organ toxicity, respiratory or skin sensitisation, carcinogenicity/mutagenicity/reproductive toxicity, and hazard to the aquatic environment — without enumerating individual substances or specific elements; heavy metals are not named as a class on this factsheet, in contrast to the EU Ecolabel textile, footwear, furniture, mattress, gardening, and coverings product groups, where the The EU Ecolabel celebrates its 30th birthday! What does the scheme stand for? briefing documents that “heavy metals” or “chromium” are explicitly listed as restricted classes. For household detergents the closest factsheet language is the catch-all hazard-classification ban; any numerical thresholds for transition-metal impurities or chelating-agent substitutes would live in the underlying Commission Decisions for the relevant product groups (the factsheet itself does not name any Decision number or numerical threshold; it states only that “the current Basic Award Criteria are valid until 31/12/2026”).

The factsheet is retained here as a C-tier regulatory-context source: it documents that the EU Ecolabel scheme, as of September 2024, covers eight household-detergent categories with criteria valid until 31 December 2026, that those criteria operate at the formulation level on hazard-classification grounds (CMR, STOT, sensitisation, aquatic toxicity) and ingredient bans (EDTA and its salts, microplastics, triclosan), that surfactants must be biodegradable and meet critical-dilution-volume thresholds, that certified-sustainable palm-oil-derived ingredients are required where palm or palm-kernel derivatives are used, and that packaging is subject to a defined weight/utility ratio with recyclability requirements. None of these criteria are quantified in the factsheet itself.

Key numbers

The factsheet contains no contamination measurements and no numerical heavy-metal limits. Quantitative content is limited to programme-administration values for German EU Ecolabel licence applicants.

EU Ecolabel household-detergent scope (p. 1, September 2024)

Item	Value
Detergent categories eligible for the EU Ecolabel	8
Categories named (p. 1, bullet list)	all-purpose cleaners, kitchen cleaners, window cleaners, sanitary cleaners, laundry detergents, hand dishwashing detergents, dishwasher detergents, pre-treatment stain removers
Number of high-level “guarantee” headings (p. 1, right column)	5
Guarantee headings	low use of hazardous substances; sustainably sourced raw materials; good design and recyclability of packaging; efficient use of resources and high effectiveness; instructions for use
Validity period of current Basic Award Criteria	until 31/12/2026

EU Ecolabel licence fees in Germany (p. 2, application section, RAL gGmbH)

Fee item	Value
One-off application handling fee (factsheet publication, September 2024)	€1,200
One-off application handling fee from 1 January 2025	€1,800
Annual fee	0.15 % of Community-wide annual sales value of the EU-Ecolabelled product
Minimum annual fee per contract	€300
Maximum annual fee per calendar year per product group per applicant	€25,000
Awarding body in Germany	RAL gGmbH
Awarding-body contact email	umweltzeichen@ral.de
Awarding-body service hotline	+49 228 68895 190

Criteria families per guarantee heading (p. 2, table)

Guarantee	Criteria families named on factsheet (verbatim where possible)
Low use of hazardous substances	compliance with minimum thresholds for critical dilution volumes; use of biodegradable surfactants; strict restrictions on the number of hazardous substances (with a strict ban on EDTA and its salts, microplastics, and triclosan); very few fragrances, preservatives, colouring agents, and enzymes allowed; substances cannot be acutely toxic, a specific target organ toxicant, a respiratory or skin sensitiser, carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction, or hazardous to the aquatic environment
Sustainably sourced raw materials	use of certified sustainable produced palm (kernel) oil and its derivatives, for example Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
Good design and recyclability of the packaging	packaging subject to a defined weight/utility ratio (WUR); packaging composed of recyclable materials; packaging must have clear indications to the consumer on how it should be properly disposed
Efficient use of resources and high effectiveness	less water and energy consumption guaranteed by high-quality detergents respecting satisfactory cleaning performance at the lowest temperature and dosage recommended by the manufacturer
Instructions for use	overdosing limited by enclosed dosing instructions; reference dosage for each product must not exceed a certain amount per wash cycle or per kg of laundry

Heavy-metal-specific points

None. The factsheet does not name any specific heavy metal (no lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), aluminum (Al), tin (Sn), arsenic (As), Sb, or uranium (U) mentioned in either page) and does not list “heavy metals” as a restricted-substance class for household detergents. The closest indirect relevance is the EDTA-and-its-salts ban, which restricts a strong chelating agent for divalent and trivalent metal cations; the factsheet’s stated rationale for the EDTA ban is not given. There are no numerical thresholds for any metal in this factsheet.

Methods (brief)

Not applicable. This is a programme-communication factsheet, not an experimental study or a criteria-decision document; there is no sampling, no analytical instrumentation, and no contamination measurements. The factsheet’s content is a high-level narrative description of the EU Ecolabel household-detergent product group; the factsheet does not name any Commission Decision number and does not reproduce any numerical threshold or formal criteria text. It states only that “the current Basic Award Criteria are valid until 31/12/2026” (p. 2). The actual programme-of-record criteria live in the underlying Commission Decisions for each product group (external EU Ecolabel programme records, not stated on this factsheet).

Speciation. Not applicable; no specific element named, no speciation referenced.

Basis. Not applicable; no concentrations or limits are stated numerically in the factsheet.

Implications

The factsheet is a high-level regulatory-context source: it documents that the EU Ecolabel scheme, as of September 2024, covers eight household-detergent categories with criteria valid until 31 December 2026, and operates on hazard-classification, ingredient-ban, biodegradability, critical-dilution-volume, packaging, and dosing grounds. The underlying numerical thresholds for any chemical class (including transition-metal impurities or chelating-agent substitutes) are not in this document and must be sourced from the relevant Commission Decisions.
The factsheet is the closest available programme-communication document for the household-detergent product group; it complements the high-level twenty-six-page The EU Ecolabel celebrates its 30th birthday! What does the scheme stand for? (NGO programme overview across all 24 EU Ecolabel product groups). The two documents agree on the relevant product group’s existence and on the cleaning-products criteria revision happening in 2017; neither states numerical heavy-metal thresholds.
The EU Ecolabel is a voluntary EU-wide ISO 14024 Type-I ecolabel; failing the criteria does not prohibit a product from EU commerce, it excludes the product from carrying the EU Ecolabel mark. This factsheet does not change that legal posture.
No HMTc-relevant threshold values are proposed by this source page. The factsheet contains no numerical heavy-metal limits.

Limitations

No original measurements and no numerical heavy-metal limits. The factsheet is a two-page consumer-facing programme summary; it names no specific heavy metal, states no numerical concentration thresholds, and does not name any Commission Decision number. Any HMI session reasoning about the actual EU Ecolabel transition-metal-impurity, chelating-agent-substitute, or formulation-purity thresholds for household detergents must consult the underlying Commission Decisions (programme-of-record texts, not on this factsheet), not this factsheet.
Programme is voluntary, not regulatory. The EU Ecolabel is administered by the European Commission and member-state competent bodies (RAL gGmbH in Germany) as a voluntary ISO 14024 Type-I ecolabel. The factsheet itself is not the programme rule text and has no legal force.
Consumer-communication register. The document is written for consumer outreach and licence-applicant orientation, not for regulatory or scientific audiences. Hazard-endpoint language is paraphrased (e.g., “specific target organ toxicant” rather than the formal CLP hazard-class identifiers H370/H371/H372/H373); the underlying Commission Decisions use formal CLP hazard-class language.
German-applicant fee scope. The fee structure on p. 2 (one-off €1,200 / €1,800 application fee, 0.15 % annual fee, €300 minimum, €25,000 maximum) is the German competent-body fee schedule administered by RAL gGmbH. Fee schedules differ by member-state competent body across the EU; the factsheet does not state this caveat.
C-tier qualitative source. Evidence tier C because: (i) consumer-communication factsheet, not a peer-reviewed study, not a regulation text, and not a programme-decision document; (ii) no original measurements; (iii) no specific heavy metal named, no thresholds quantified; (iv) sources for the underlying criteria are not formally cited on the factsheet. Tier is consistent with The EU Ecolabel celebrates its 30th birthday! What does the scheme stand for? (NGO programme overview) and lower than the underlying Commission Decisions (which would carry A-tier programme-record authority).
September 2024 publication; criteria validity is finite. The current Basic Award Criteria are valid until 31 December 2026 per the factsheet (p. 2). The factsheet itself does not state when those criteria were adopted, does not state which Commission Decisions carry them, and does not state a revision schedule. A criteria revision is expected before end-of-2026 (external EU Ecolabel programme context, not stated on the factsheet); downstream synthesis citing this factsheet for any specific EU Ecolabel household-detergent criterion should re-check the live Commission Decision once revised.

Provenance

Source PDF: the archived source file
SHA-256: 763d866d621d3681acfbad8313f5c7b9fddaced091cb95c25c2a728a710d73c6
File size: 1.3 MB; document body pp. 1-2 (cover/which-detergents-are-eligible/guarantees, criteria-overview-table/application-fees-and-contacts).
Publisher: jointly branded between the European Commission (EU Ecolabel logo, top-left), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV, footer logo), the German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, footer logo), and RAL gGmbH (footer logo, application-handling body for Germany).
Document title (cover): “The EU Ecolabel for household detergents — The EU Ecolabel is the official European Union label for environmental excellence.”
Publication date (cover, top-right corner of p. 1): September 2024.
Tagline: euecolabel.
Contact: umweltzeichen@ral.de, +49 228 68895 190 (RAL gGmbH, Germany).
DOI: none assigned (programme-communication factsheet).
License: programme-communication document; redistributable with attribution as standard EU Ecolabel outreach material.
Access date: 2026-06-03.
Acquisition path: included in source-retrieval Agent Download Corruption Issue (KADC) folder household_papers/06_Regulatory_EPA_GreenSeal/, alongside The EU Ecolabel celebrates its 30th birthday! What does the scheme stand for?, the U.S. EPA Safer Choice Standard, EPA Safer Choice Master Criteria for Safer Ingredients, David Suzuki Foundation’s household-cleaners article, Green Seal GS-37/GS-52/GS-8, NIOSH HHE, California SB258 right-to-know, and New York State Cleaning Product Disclosure Programme documents.

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Download evidence packet

Institute of Contaminant Standards. (2026). The EU Ecolabel for household detergents — The EU Ecolabel is the official European Union label for environmental excellence. Heavy Metal Index. https://heavymetalindex.com/sources/ral2024-eu-ecolabel-factsheet-household-detergents

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