EPD valid if I use the EPD of supplier that expired or that is going to expire

Question

Greetings

I know that this question is not directly for OpenLCA or databases, but I think there will knowledge from the community on this one.

I am creating an EPD for a product, that all of the raw materials have EPD of their own, so I can use their results.

What happens though, is that the EPDs of the suppliers will expire at some point during the 5year validity period of my EPD. What should I do then?

During my annual EPD revision, would be viable to continue using their expired EPD results or should I change raw material data through a generic process from ecoinvent?

And then, when and if they make a new EPD, should I revise my EPD again and use their data?

Answer 1

Interesting question, if you use the EPD as background data, the expiration date is typically longer than for the EPD (10 years instead of 5), check the PCR - which means you can then use an expired EPD as background data.

Best wishes,

Andreas

Comments

Ι found what you said in 4.6.3 of PCR 2019 v.2.01. But by reading 4.6.2 and 4.6.3 I understood this. If you use data <5 years it is considered primary, <10 years it is considered representative secondary and if >10 years it is considered proxy. So that means you can use EPDs, if they apply to some other rules, no matter how old.

But it does not specifically sais about the expiration date of EPDs in 4.6.4 that analyses the EPD used as a source.

I understand your train of thought, and it is correct, but the lack of specific information in 4.6.4 troubles me