Limitation of biocidal products (antimicrobial function)

Labelling
If the contract terms have been verified with a label, check that there is a valid license for the product in question. 
Valid license for any of for example the following labels. This can be checked on each website:

• Nordic Swan Ecolabel for Textile, hides/skins and leather, version 5
• EU Ecolabel for textile products 2014/350/EU 
• GOTS, version 6.0 (2020) or version 7.0 (2023)

Note that if a product has a label describing biocidal treatment it does not fulfil the contract terms.
Textiles treated with biocidal products have to be labelled in accordance with the biocidal regulation. Examples of what a label can look like can be found in the Swedish Chemicals Agency's fact sheet Articles treated with biocides.
Take a sample of delivered products and check that there is no label that describes treatment with biocidal products. If delivered products do not have a tag/label for treatment with biocidal product, request information from the supplier about any possible biocidal treatment of the products. The information may, for example, consist of product sheets, marketing materials or the like.
If labelling or marketing show that the product is treated with biocidal products or marketed as biocidal, for example antibacterial or odourless, the product does not meet the contract terms.

Self-declaration verified by an accredited verification body
If the contract terms have been verified with a self-declaration, request the company's self-declaration including technical documentation of compliance that has been verified by an accredited verification body, accredited for the task in accordance with ISO / IEC 17029.

An article marketed as biocide-treated, for example antibacterial shall, according to the Biocides Regulation, be labelled. The information shall also be able to be provided if the supplier does not market the product as biocide-treated, according to Article 58 of the Biocides Regulation. The supplier of the product shall, upon request, be able to provide information on possible biocidal treatment within 45 days, even if the product is not marketed as a biocidal treated product to the consumer, according to the Biocides Regulation. It is thus possible to request the information from the supplier. Examples of what a label can look like can be found in the Swedish Chemicals Agency's fact sheet "Articles treated with biocides".

There are currently no accredited verification bodies according to ISO / IEC 17029 (Conformity assessment - General principles and requirements for validation and verification bodies), as it is a relatively new standard. However, this may change, especially if the demand for verifying compliance in this way increases. This possibility is therefore included in the list of possible verifications. More information about the standard is available at www.swedac.se.

The version date indicates when the sustainability criterion was created or last updated. Last reviewed dated tells when we last checked that the sustainability criterion still is relevant.