Background An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), as defined according to ISO TR 14025, gives the possibility of communicating objective, comparable and credible information relating to the environmental performance of products. At international level, a working group has been established within the ISO organisation (ISO/TC 207/SC 3) to define a Technical Report on Type III Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Discussions are ongoing about the question of creating a standard for type III, as has already been done for type I and II environmental labels and declarations. There are some experiences regarding the implementation of the EPD system for a single product group. Until now, however, Sweden is the only country in Europe which has developed a complete EPD system for validation and certification according to ISO TR 14025. Experiences with EPD underline the necessity of an international system finally being approved and enforced to facilitate an easier way to promote environmental quality in the B2B sector. Objectives The project objectives consist of: defining and testing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) system, according to ISO TR 14025, that can be applied at an international level; defining the EPD international framework by the identification of coordination and harmonisation rules among national schemes; providing the Member States and adhesion countries with the opportunity and tools to cooperate in the implementation of an international system composed of national sub-systems; disseminating the knowledge of TYPE III Environmental Claims and educating technicians. A wider objective of the project is to increase knowledge and awareness about the environmental aspects of products (goods and services). Results The INTEND project managed to achieve an analysis of already existing EPD schemes, with particular attention paid to the Swedish and Italian experience. The project beneficiary and the various partners involved assessed 22 different EPD systems implemented in various countries, enabling them to build a matrix aiming at identifying the main recurrent characteristics of the schemes. The results of this work were reported in the “Study of the International situation of EPD application”, an 84 page report including an analysis of the standardisation work within ISO, the current European situation, the GEDnet (Global Type III environmental product declarations Network), activities performed by UNE and SETAC, and an evaluation of several key elements of existing EPD schemes. Based on its analysis, and following an extensive open consultation carried out in spring 2005, with the involvement of some 350 people (mainly experts, as well as representatives of industrial and trade associations, NGOs and public institutions), the beneficiary defined a new international EPD framework (with coordination rules, harmonisation principles, common logo, reporting format and product specific requirement – PSR – rules). Starting in April 2004, the new EPD system was successfully tested using some pilot projects in Italy, conducted by companies delivering goods and companies delivering services. The project has a strong demonstration character and appears easily reproducible in all the EU and candidate countries. In overall terms, the project results should improve the knowledge and awareness about the environmental impact of the products (both goods and services), facilitating the implementation of Green Procurement measures. The proposed international EPD international system has been presented at a number of conferences and seminars. These include: 12th SETAC Europe (Bologna, Italy, Jan. 2005); Meeting of Accreditation Bodies (Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 2005); European Commission (Brussels, May 2005). The beneficiary also organized a workshop at the 15th SETAC (Lille, France, May 2005), and a meeting at the Ecoefficiency Fair (Turin, Italy, May 2005). The final project conference took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on September 22, 2005. Other dissemination activities included the publication of a series of project newsletters and a website. The beneficiary and its Swedish partner (AB Svenska Miljoestyrningraedet) continue to promote the envisaged EPD system in order to make it a recognized global standard.