The Government of Catalonia is pleased to announce the first Catalonia Ecodesign Award, which recognises products and services designed to have an improved environmental performance throughout their life cycle. The Award is part of the Catalan Ecodesign Strategy and counts on the support of SWITCH-Med, a programme funded by the European Union to support Mediterranean countries to shift to sustainable patterns of consumption and production.The award has five categories. Categories A, B, C and D are for entrants from Catalonia, while category E, Euro-Mediterranean Design, is aimed at entrants from the 21 neighbouring Mediterranean countries members to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention).

a) Basic criteria:- Incorporation of significant ecodesign strategies in

the product life cycle. For example: reduction in resource consumption;

selection of materials with a smaller environmental impact; reduction of the environmental impact of the production process; optimisation of the distribution process; reduction of environmental impact during use; lengthening of the useful-life stage; and optimisation of the end-of-life stage.

- Quality of the design.- Innovation.- For products under development, the stage of

development of the submitted entry.

Evaluation criteria

The winner of each category will receive ¤5,000.

Award money

The award ceremony will take place in the autumn of 2015 in Barcelona, as part of the SWITCH-Med Action Network Event, which will bring together more than 300 participants representing businesses, entrepreneurs, public administrations and civil society organizations from the Mediterranean countries (www.switchmed.eu).

Award Ceremony

The winning entries will be included in the award exhibition, award catalogue and other dissemination activities including diffusion through the SWITCH-Med Platform.

Dissemination

Products already available in the market, products under development or product promotion strategies that are developed in Euro-Mediterranean countries and that take into account environmental considerations with the goal of reducing the environmental impact of the product over the course of its life cycle.

What can be submitted?

Any natural person (including students) or corporate entity, domiciled or with corporate headquarters in a Euro-Mediterranean country, who designs or manufactures the product, promotes or designs the product under development, or promotes the strategy.

Who can submit an entry?

AlbaniaAlgeriaBosnia-HerzegovinaCroatiaCyprusEgyptFranceGreeceIsraelItalyLebanon

LibyaMaltaMonacoMontenegroSloveniaSpain MoroccoSyriaTunisiaTurkey

List of Euro-Mediterranean countries

(1) Entrants who make the second stage of evaluation will be informed of the exact date by the organisation.

Submission of entriesfrom 15th January

2015 to 28th February 2015 at 12 h

Announcement of the results of the first stage of evaluation June 2015

Submission of samples/posters July 2015 Award Ceremony autumn 2015

Calendar

(1)

Order TES/184/2014, of 6th June, by which the Catalonia Ecodesign Award is governed.Decision TES/2296/2014, of 13th October, through which the Catalonia Ecodesign Award 2015 is announced.

Products already in the market, products under development or product promotion strategies are not eligible for submission to the award if they are in any of the situations listed below:

a) If they have already been submitted for the Design for Recycling Award on previous occasions, unless they have undergone a substantial redesign or improvement that makes a new evaluation necessary.

b) If they are submitted simultaneously in more than one of the listed categories, whether approached from the same or a different perspective.

c) If their main value is artistic (works of art).d) If they are buildings or other complex

architectural elementse) If they are one-off items that cannot be

mass-produced.f) If a member of the judging panel has

participated actively in the entry submission as a designer, as a manufacturing company or distributor of the product, or as the promoter of a strategy.

Exclusion from participation

The award entrant accepts full responsibility for the entry and guarantees authorship of it. The submitted design must in no way infringe upon the intellectual and/or industrial property rights of a third party. The award entrant will be held fully liable in there is any infringement upon the rights of a third party.

b) Additional criteria:- Application of environmental evaluation

methodologies.- Potential environmental benefit.- Possession of labels that accredit the environmental

benefits of the product.- Implementation of the environmental management

system in the design and development process (Ecodesign, ISO 14006).

- Socio-economic impact.- Implementation of communication and

awareness strategies.

Stage 1. The initial selection is made by team of experts appointed by the Catalan Waste Agency.Stage 2. The entries that pass the initial selection are evaluated by the judging panel, which will select the winning entries in the five award categories.

The accepted entries will be evaluated in two stages:

Evaluation of submitted entries

Entries must be submitted exclusively through an online form available on the websiteht tp : / /www.premiecodisseny2015.cat /en , displayed in English, French, Spanish and Catalan. The form lists the mandatory documents that must be attached to the form (photographs, accreditation documents, etc.). The entries that go forward to the second evaluation stage must present a sample or prototype of the product or a stiff-backed colour explanatory poster measuring 50 cm wide x 70 cm high. The same poster must also be submitted in electronic format (PDF) on a CD or USB stick. The organisation will stipulate the exact period for submitting this material and will duly inform entrants.The Technical Secretary’s Office will not be liable for the delivery and collection costs of the samples.

Entry submission procedure

The judging panel is composed of international experts on design and sustainability.

Judging panel

Catalan Waste AgencyFurther information at:

The award information is published on the website:

http://www.premiecodisseny2015.cat/en

935 673 300

premiecodisseny2015.arc.tes@gencat.cat

#ecodesignaward

Organised by:

With the collaboration of:

Programme funded by the European Union