Product Category Rules (PCRs)

Product Category Rules (PCRs) are standardised, product-specific guidelines that define how the environmental impacts of a product must be assessed and reported in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). They specify key methodological choices—such as system boundaries, functional units, data quality requirements, and impact categories—ensuring that lifecycle assessments (LCAs) are carried out consistently for products within the same category. By requiring all manufacturers to follow the same rules, PCRs make EPDs comparable, transparent, and verifiable across similar products.