Swedish Building Material Assessment
The Swedish Building Materials Assessment ("Byggvarubedömningen") is a program issued by Swedish landlords and facility managers for rating products with respect to their environmental impact.
Assigned classes are:
- Recommended
- Accepted – alternative should be considered
- To be Avoided – alternative must be explored
The specifications are available in English and in Swedish, as well as a general description. There is a download area with all relevant documents.
As regards VOC emissions into indoor air, the classification only applies to relevant goods for indoor use e.g., coating materials or applications which through emissions can reach inside air, referred products wallboard, floor covering, sealing, paint, wallpaper, caulking, adhesive, putty). The actual materials stone, brick, wall tile, floor tile, mosaic tile, glass and metal on interior surfaces are not assessed. However, necessary surface layer and base treatment must be assessed according to the specified criteria - see chapter 8 in Building Material Assessment Assessment Criteria of 2010-11-09 / (status of 3 / 2011).
Emissions evaluation relies on Total VOC emission chamber test or FLEC test within 26 weeks, following the (outdated) testing standards EN 13419 parts 1 and 2 (now ISO 16000 part 9 and part 10), with VOC determination as described in ISO 16000-6. Formaldehyde is tested with the standard EN 717-1 or equivalent (such as ISO 16000-3).
Classification is based on:
- Knowledge or no knowledge of VOC emissions
- Formaldehyde emission rate 0.05 mg/m²h or air concentration 0.05 mg/m³ for best class
(0.124 mg/m²h or air concentration 0.124 mg/m³ for second best class) - TVOC emission rate of after max. 26 weeks max. 200 µg/m²h for best class
(400 µg/m³ for second best class)
Eurofins services
Eurofins offers documentation of compliance with above specifications on emissions of VOC and aldehydes by independent testing.
Contact to VOC Testing Laboratories
Please see here contact information of Eurofins VOC testing laboratories in Europe, USA and China:
www.eurofins.com/voc-contacts.
Order forms and testing request forms are available for free download here.