Or. Admin. Code § 340-090-0920 - Project Report

All life cycle evaluations under the LCE rules must be documented in a project report in accordance with this rule. This report must include the contents specified in Section 1 and conform to the general requirements in ISO 14044:2006 § 5.1 and 14044:2006 § 5.2. Two versions of the project report shall be created, one that contains all the contents described in this rule including confidential data as described in section (2) of this rule and a second public version with confidential data removed. The non-redacted project report shall be provided to DEQ and the producer responsibility organization and the public version with confidential data removed shall be made available to the public.

(1) Contents of the project report. ISO 21930:2017 § 10 shall apply to the project report. The project report shall include the following elements, taken from ISO 21930:2017 § 10.2, and as modified by this Section:

(a) General aspects, including:

(A) Commissioner of the life cycle evaluation, and internal or external practitioner of the Life cycle evaluation study;

(B) Date of report; and

(C) Statement that the study has been conducted in accordance with the requirements of the LCE rules.

(b) Goal of the study, including the reasons for carrying out the study, including its intended application and whether that includes a fee reduction pursuant to ORS 459A.884(4) and OAR 340-090-0910(3)(a) or (b).

(c) Scope of the study, including:

(A) The functional unit, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(1)(a), including:

(i) The definition and relevant technical specifications; and

(ii) The calculation approach for averaging data, including when the functional unit is defined for a batch of covered products as described in OAR 340-090-0930(1)(a), or for a group of the same products produced by different suppliers or at different production sites.

(B) The system boundary according to the modular approach, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(1)(c), including:

(i) Omissions of life cycle stages, processes or data needs;

(ii) Quantification of energy and material inputs and outputs, taking into account how plant-level data is allocated to the declared products; and

(iii) Assumptions about electricity production and other relevant background data.

(C) cut-off criteria for initial inclusion of inputs and outputs, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(1)(d), including:

(i) A description of the application of cut-off criteria and assumptions; and

(ii) A list of excluded processes.

(d) A life cycle inventory analysis, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(2), including:

(A) A qualitative and quantitative description of unit processes necessary to model the life cycle stages of the functional unit;

(B) The sources of generic or proxy data or literature used to conduct the analysis;

(C) Validation of data and discussion of data quality, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(1)(e), including:

(i) Data quality assessment; and

(ii) Treatment of missing data.

(D) Allocation principles and procedures, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(2)(c), including:

(i) Documentation and justification of allocation procedures; and

(ii) uniform application of allocation procedures.

(e) A Life cycle impact assessment, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(3), including:

(A) The life cycle impact assessment procedures, calculations and results of the assessment;

(B) The relationship of the life cycle impact assessment results to the life cycle inventory analysis results;

(C) A reference to all characterization models, characterization factors and methods used, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(3)(a);

(D) A statement that the life cycle impact assessment results are relative expressions and do not predict impacts on category endpoints, the exceedance of thresholds, safety margins or risks.

(f) Life cycle interpretation, as described in OAR 340-090-0930(4) including:

(A) The results of the interpretation;

(B) The assumptions and limitations associated with the interpretation of results, both methodology and data related;

(C) The data quality assessment; and

(D) Full transparency in terms of value-choices and expert judgements.

(g) Summary section containing specific information from the project report. The required information and format will be based on a template provided by DEQ. The summary section must be computer readable.

(h) The third-party verification.

(2) Confidential Data. A producer shall identify any information in the project report the producer believes is exempt from disclosure pursuant to ORS 192.311 to 192.478 or otherwise confidential under applicable law. Such information is not required to be included in the public report and shall not be disclosed to the extent allowed or required by ORS 192.311 to 192.478 or other applicable law. Such information may be necessary for the third-party during the verification process described in Section (4). A producer may require an appropriate nondisclosure agreement before providing such information to a third-party reviewer. To qualify for a fee reduction pursuant to ORS 459A.884(4) and OAR 340-090-0910(3) the following project report information must be publicly available:

(a) Life cycle inventory analysis results,

(b) Impact assessment results,

(c) normalized and weighted impact scores generated for the purpose of claiming the substantial impact reduction bonus, and

(d) the presence of intentionally-added or contaminant hazardous substances.

(3) Documentation on additional environmental information. Any mandatory reporting of additional environmental information, as described in OAR 340-090-0940, shall be included in the project report. Such documentation may include:

(a) Laboratory results or tests related to material or chemical composition of covered products;

(b) Laboratory results or tests related to emissions (to air, soil or water) from covered products that occur during their use stage;

(c) Certifications or third-party environmental labels; and

(d) Sourcing practices.

(4) Third-Party verification and validity of Life Cycle Evaluation. A qualified independent verifier shall review and certify all life cycle evaluations of covered products for compliance with the LCE rules.

(a) A qualified, independent verifier shall have knowledge of and proficiency in life cycle assessment methodology, practice, and standards (ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006). As well as the appropriate scientific and technical proficiencies relevant to covered products evaluated. Qualifications shall be determined using the criteria and scoring system described in section 8.3.1 of Annex I of EU 2021/2279.

(b) The review and verification shall be conducted pursuant to and in accordance with the critical review process described in ISO/TS 14071:2014. Additionally, the third-party review and verification shall adhere to section 8.4.1 of Annex I of EU 2021/2279.

(c) After review and verification, a critical review report and critical review statement shall be produced by the third-party and appended to the project reports, all of which must then be submitted to the department, and made publicly available by the producer responsibility organization.

(d) A project report is valid for 10 years, if the underlying data have not changed significantly such that the results of the assessment no longer represent the current impact of the covered product.

(e) Information in addition to the project report may be required by a third-party verifier to determine compliance with the LCE rules.

Notes

Or. Admin. Code § 340-090-0920

DEQ 20-2024, adopt filed 11/24/2024, effective 11/24/2024

Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 459A.944 & 459A.884

Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 459A.944 & 459A.884