Product seals‚ quality labels or seals of quality are designated as certificates for products, providing graphic or written product identifiers that certify the quality of a product, for example, regarding safety criteria adhered to, or product contents. Certificates are an evaluation of a product. The EPD does not provide these, because it provides quantitative information about the characteristics and environmental effects of a product and makes these transparent, without making evaluative statements.
This difference, as compared to traditional environmental labels and certificates or seals of quality, is consciously normatively regulated with EPDs, since, here, a life cycle assessment with a multitude of indicators is shown, which cannot be summarised in a single evaluative statement. For instance, an EPD does not test the product for specific characteristics, such as material content or emissions, as is the case in laboratories. On the contrary, verification examines whether the data provided by the manufacturer in its EPD are plausible and complete with regard to applicable standards and rules.