LONGTIME® is a voluntary programme based on the assessment of 38 criteria relating to the product life cycle, dedicated to manufactured products designed to last.
Assessment against the LONGTIME® standard is mandatorily carried out by an independent third-party inspection body. If successful, a licence to use the label is granted. The company can thus indicate to the end users of its products that they are preferable for the environment.
The overarching objective of environmental labels and declarations is to encourage and meet demand for products with a lower impact on the environment. Environmental declarations must convey accurate and verifiable information. In addition, this information must not mislead regarding the environmental aspects of the products concerned.
In this article, we demonstrate, in a rigorous and transparent manner, LONGTIME®’s compliance with ISO 14020 and ISO 14024. In addition to the compliance aspects cited in this text, our transparency and the recurring, in-depth consultations with interested parties are fully integrated into governance with a strong CSR focus.
We demonstrate that we comply with all the principles of ISO 14024. All of our communication materials enable all interested parties to assess and compare our claim in methodological terms with other potentially existing methodologies.
Our objectives are simple:
- to promote products whose environmental externalities are absolutely reduced across all the most important phases of their life cycle; and
- to guide consumers towards products that are more reliable, more robust and more repairable.
Durability and repairability, and the associated environmental benefits, are elements—concepts—that come into play across a large part of the product life cycle.
How is LONGTIME compliant with ISO 14020 and ISO 14024?
Durability (reliability and repairability) and extending product lifetime are now clearly regarded as environmental concepts. Public policy is actively working to raise production practices by imposing increasingly demanding regulations on these aspects. (ESPR Regulation, Right To Repair, French Repairability Index…).
The LONGTIME® label informs consumers about durability in a precise manner, on the basis of verified and relevant information. It necessarily concerns the entire product and not just one part or a single sub-assembly. The primary objective of the LONGTIME® label is to provide information about the durable nature of products, thereby avoiding the pitfall of losing consumers among numerous criteria that can sometimes be uncertain.
LONGTIME® is an internationally applicable label which, by its very nature, is intended for all consumers worldwide. Regardless of geographic origin, it is not intended to encourage national preference and cannot hinder international trade. The label, the standard, and all documents related to the LONGTIME® certification process are translated into several languages and made accessible to companies worldwide, within the limits of the technical and human resources of the organisation that operates the label. The name of the label was chosen to be understandable to as many consumers around the globe as possible.
The LONGTIME® label:
In order to maximise LONGTIME®’s impact, from the very creation of the label we have been committed to making the information it conveys as easy as possible for end users to understand. The design of the label complies in full with all the principles of ISO 14020 and ISO 14024.
The LONGTIME® label was designed to make it easier to read and to leave no doubt as to the meaning and scope of the label. Thanks to its shape, the symbols it contains and its colours, the logo is easily recognisable among all the others.
The label features the logo of the label, designed by an experienced graphic designer, Gilles Dussart.
We use a symbol that we therefore designed ourselves, which is clearly distinct from all other symbols currently in use, particularly in the field of environmental claims, in order to avoid any risk of confusion or association with another environmental claim.
The logo depicts an hourglass for the notion of time, cogs to reflect manufactured products, and a drop-shaped Earth to express the notion of impact on resources. These symbols, which are easy to reproduce, are simple, universal and readily understandable to all. We also ensured that our labels do not contain any natural object.
Our process provides for the communication of a pack of digital files enabling optimal use of the label without any particular knowledge of IT or graphic design.
The structure of the logo, its symbols and the label is perfectly suited to the target product groups. The minimum required dimensions even make it possible to place the label on miniature products such as smartphones while maintaining excellent legibility.
Despite significant overlaps between repair and recycling criteria, we did not wish to introduce the Möbius loop as defined in ISO 7000 and represented by three twisted, interlinked arrows in a triangular form, since this is not the subject of our environmental claim. In addition, we took care not to use other symbols or numbers likely to mislead regarding the environmental claim conveyed by LONGTIME® (natural object, 100%…)
Explanatory statements on the LONGTIME® label
The explanatory statements featured on the LONGTIME® environmental label allow us to be 200% certain that our claim is not open to interpretation or a source of misunderstanding. A field survey, carried out blind with consumers, helped to reinforce this position.
We took great care to exclude all vague, imprecise or ambiguous environmental claims such as “respectful of…”, “green” or even “sustainable”, which are terms that are too generic and insufficiently objective.
In addition to the logo, the structure of the label always includes on the front a baseline—simple, clear and legible—“Designed to last”, as well as a statement expressing the label’s independence from any corporation. It leaves no room for misinterpretation. These notions are translated into internationally recognised reference languages.
On the back, the label includes a short explanatory text to remove any doubt about the scope of the label: “The LONGTIME® label guarantees that this product meets requirements for longevity, repairability, service quality.”
The back also includes the label’s website, enabling each interested party to consult freely and free of charge the factual technical basis constituted by the 38 criteria of the LONGTIME® standard, as well as the label’s prerequisites. This link also enables all professionals to verify the procedure and methodology that lead to certification.
All explanatory statements are very short. The claims “Designed to last”, “Independent label” and the additional explanatory statements are all located on the label, close to one another (front and back), so that they can easily be associated by the reader of the label.
Whatever the product group bearing the LONGTIME® label, the wording remains strictly identical and cannot be rephrased. It is therefore impossible to distort the meaning of the label or to suggest environmental benefits other than those stated.
The scope of the LONGTIME label
Information derived from life cycle assessment (LCA) for the scope of manufactured products covered by the LONGTIME® label consistently shows that the environmental impacts linked to the upstream phases, prior to product use, account for at least 50% of the products’ overall environmental footprint.
This characteristic of manufactured products is supported by numerous scientific studies and datasets, which now largely corroborate this assumption.
Extending product lifetime is one of the effective eco-design levers for reducing the environmental footprint of manufactured products. This is even more compelling for energy-related products, ERPs* or EEE**. It is by taking this information into account that the LONGTIME® label criteria were developed. Taking durability into account in our environmental claim—implicitly, assessing reliability, repairability and the significant phases of the product life cycle—enables us to positively influence the environmental impact of products.
Indeed, extending product lifetime almost systematically generates environmental gains. In rare cases, the balance between the reduction in impacts from manufacturing and disposal achieved through longer product lifetime may be offset by the improved energy efficiency of certain disruptive new products.
Since there is scientific consensus on the very significant share of the production phases in the life cycle impacts of manufactured products, the labelling process does not systematically require an LCA study. Nevertheless, and in order to be certain that the LONGTIME® claim bears on the entire life cycle, the label introduces requirements for the use phase (environmental requirement, energy requirement or pollutant emission threshold) based on best market practices. The same applies to the end-of-life phase.
The environmental claim carried by LONGTIME® is perfectly suited to product families for which durability and repairability can genuinely be a factor in reducing ecological impact, and can be assessed, whatever the product’s situation or context of use.
It should be noted that our label does not state that the product bearing the LONGTIME® claim is comparatively superior to others. Our awarding process is not based on comparative analyses between products, but on compliance with the 38 criteria of the LONGTIME® V2 standard. However, there is no doubt that the stringency of the LONGTIME® specification will place labelled products among the best performers in their categories.
A label for innovative products:
The LONGTIME® label was also designed to adapt to technological innovations and disruptive technological change. Enhanced points of attention to highlight the reliability of new technologies will be implemented, but this is absolutely not discriminatory.
The criteria requirements are mostly expressed as quantifiable data—accessibility scales, spare parts availability time in years, spare parts price cap expressed as a % of the price of a new product, after-sales service access time in days (non-exhaustive list)—in order to give substance to certain descriptive or theoretical characteristics such as durability or reliability.
NB “Let us note that ISO 14024 mentions that claims relating to durability concepts cannot be established. We strongly contest this statement. LONGTIME® is the first method for measuring durability and it is therefore legitimate to make it explicit in our claims. We also note that other entities, such as AFNOR, use within one of their private labelling programmes a claim relating to the achievement of durability.”
Development of the LONGTIME® standard:
In 2017, we launched research and development work to create the first durability standard. Over these two years of R&D, with the support of the expertise of Ecocert Expert Consulting, we incorporated the collective intelligence of all interested parties in the sectors concerned: manufacturers, inspection bodies, repair service providers, environmental associations and self-repair support organisations, and many others.
These two years made it possible to reach a balanced consensus around a standard made up of objective and non-actionable criteria.
In 2024, the LONGTIME® standard evolved to V2 following a broad consultation process. Participation in the evolution of the standard is open to all via registration and is strengthened by the establishment of the CEEL, an expert and ethics committee made up of independent stakeholders.
We reaffirm here our willingness to open up the process of participation and continuous improvement of our methodology to all stakeholders.
Rules governing the LONGTIME® label:
The LONGTIME® label is registered as a certification mark with the EUIPO and, as such, Rules of Use are filed there.
All companies whose activities fall within the scope of the label may apply to obtain the LONGTIME® label. Whatever their size, very small businesses, SMEs, mid-caps and large companies can access the label in compliance with the process. The registration procedure is streamlined and without major administrative constraints other than regulatory requirements and compliance with the label prerequisites.
The LONGTIME® label is a “product” environmental declaration and not a “brand” declaration, so as not to mislead. The labelling conditions, covering the entire labelling process, are available free of charge upon simple request.
Awarding the LONGTIME® label:
The LONGTIME® label is based on the methodological standards of the EN 45550 series, more specifically EN45552 and EN45554, and on evidence methods drawn from performance indicators used in industry.
The assessment is based on a methodology derived from quality management and system & product certification. It relies on semi-quantitative, quantitative and qualitative data and combines a system audit and a product audit.
This methodology, structured around evidence methods drawn from tangible KPIs, is perfectly suited to the claim carried by the label. It provides relevant information not only on the final product, but also on all key phases of its life cycle. Information substantiating a candidate’s compliance with the principles of the LONGTIME® label is examined during an initial audit carried out by a third-party inspection body.
The inspection bodies, “Apave Certification” and “Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d’Essais (LNE)“, have an audit checklist reserved for their use. This checklist brings together all the LONGTIME® label criteria. It details the various thresholds candidates must meet (depending on the product group being assessed), as well as all elements and information enabling the auditor to best judge the quality of the audited product.
The auditor records on this checklist all elements and evidence enabling them to declare compliance with each criterion.
The checklist reserved for inspection bodies is protected, as is the evidence of compliance provided by the candidates themselves. This information can indeed be considered sensitive or strictly confidential.
The inspection body then decides whether or not to issue a certificate of conformity. The certificate is issued for a maximum period of 3 years.
In short, Ethikis ad Civis, the cooperative that manages the LONGTIME® label, has absolutely no power to award the label and relies solely on the decision of the inspection body. Thus, Ethikis is not both judge and party, as is often the case in the world of private labels.
This awarding model allows us to state clearly the wording “Independent label” and “Product inspected by an independent body according to the LONGTIME® standard” directly on the label. In this way, we make it clear that our environmental declaration goes far beyond a simple self-declaration and results from a fully independent validation.
Evolution of the standard and sector-specific standards:
A standard must be continually challenged in order to absorb the latest regulatory and market developments and to keep raising practices ever higher. As such, the LONGTIME® standard and its sector-specific standards are revised at least every three years. This pace is consistent with the technological innovations encountered across our product scope.
We organise round tables bringing together all licence holders in order to discuss various aspects of the label with them, and we provide them with surveys with a view to continuously improving the labelling process. We want to continue promoting collective intelligence, drawing on the field expertise of our partners, and sharing our knowledge with other stakeholders, and in particular with consumers.
The evolution from the V1 standard to the V2 standard entails revising the sector-specific standards. Each entity is invited to send us, by any means whatsoever—during in-person or remote meetings, by email—their feedback on questions addressing the label’s real underlying issues, such as the relevance of adding or removing certain criteria.
LONGTIME® and communications:
Reducing the information asymmetry that exists between consumers and manufacturers regarding durability is one of the LONGTIME® label’s key aims.
In order to maximise our label’s reach, we deploy communication strategies suited to our organisation, including:
- press releases
- SEO and organic search optimisation
- participation in trade fairs, conferences and events related to our theme in France and internationally
- graphic design with neural ergonomics
- social media management