prEN IEC 63333-3:2026

Ocenjevanje krožnih vsebin v proizvodih - 3. del: Delež recikliranih materialov (predlagana horizontalna objava)

General Information

• Status: Not Published
• Publication Date: 22-Nov-2027
• ICS: 13.020.30 - Environmental impact assessment
• ICS: 31.020 - Electronic components in general
• Technical Committee: CLC/TC 111X - Environment
• Current Stage: 4020 - Enquiry circulated - Enquiry
• Start Date: 01-May-2026
• Due Date: 01-May-2026
• Completion Date: 01-May-2026
• Ref Project: oSIST prEN IEC 63333-3:2026 - Assessment of circular content in products - Part 3: Proportion of recycled materials (Proposed Horizontal Publication)

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-junij-2026
Ocenjevanje krožnih vsebin v proizvodih - 3. del: Delež recikliranih materialov
(predlagana horizontalna objava)
Assessment of circular content in products - Part 3: Proportion of recycled materials
(Proposed Horizontal Publication)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN IEC 63333-3:2026
ICS:
13.020.30 Ocenjevanje vpliva na okolje Environmental impact
assessment
31.020 Elektronske komponente na Electronic components in
splošno general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

111/881/CDV
COMMITTEE DRAFT FOR VOTE (CDV)

PROJECT NUMBER:
IEC 63333-3 ED1
DATE OF CIRCULATION: CLOSING DATE FOR VOTING:
2026-05-01 2026-07-24
SUPERSEDES DOCUMENTS:
111/786A/RVN, 111/822A/CD
IEC TC 111 : ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDIZATION FOR ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AND SYSTEMS
SECRETARIAT: SECRETARY:
Italy Mr Alfonso Sturchio
OF INTEREST TO THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEES: HORIZONTAL FUNCTION(S):
TC 111 Horizontal Basic Environment - Assessments
TC 2,TC 4,TC 5,TC 9,TC 14,TC 18,TC 20,TC
of proportion of recycled,
21,TC 22,TC 23,TC 32,SC 34A,SC 34D,TC 35,TC
reused and renewable content
40,TC 59,TC 62,SC 65B,TC 80,TC 82,TC 88,TC
100,TC 110,TC 114,TC 120,TC 121,TC 124,TC
125,PC 131,ACEA
ASPECTS CONCERNED:
Environment
SUBMITTED FOR CENELEC PARALLEL VOTING NOT SUBMITTED FOR CENELEC PARALLEL VOTING
Attention IEC-CENELEC parallel voting
The attention of IEC National Committees, members of
CENELEC, is drawn to the fact that this Committee Draft
for Vote (CDV) is submitted for parallel voting.
The CENELEC members are invited to vote through the
CENELEC online voting system.
This document is still under study and subject to change. It should not be used for reference purposes.
Recipients of this document are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of
which they are aware and to provide supporting documentation.
Recipients of this document are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant “In Some
Countries” clauses to be included should this proposal proceed. Recipients are reminded that the CDV stage is
the final stage for submitting ISC clauses. (SEE AC/22/2007 OR NEW GUIDANCE DOC).

TITLE:
Assessment of circular content in products - Part 3: Proportion of recycled materials
(Proposed Horizontal Publication)

PROPOSED STABILITY DATE: 2032
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IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

CONTENTS
CONTENTS . 1
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 6
3.1 Terms and definitions. 6
3.1.1 Terms and definitions relating to products, parts and materials . 6
3.1.2 Terms and definitions relating to chain of custody and traceability . 8
3.2 Abbreviations . 9
4 Setting the scope and system boundary of the assessment . 9
4.1 Scope of the assessment . 9
4.2 Production process system boundaries . 9
4.3 Supply chain mapping . 10
5 Recycled content communication and specification . 11
5.1 Obtaining information about recycled content in the supply chain . 11
5.2 Specifying material groups . 12
5.3 Materials not in scope . 12
5.4 Pre- and post-consumer recycled material . 12
5.4.1 General . 12
5.4.2 Pre-consumer recycled material. 12
5.4.3 Post-consumer recycled material . 13
6 Traceability . 14
7 Calculation of recycled materials content . 15
7.1 General considerations . 15
7.2 Balancing the mass of inputs and outputs . 15
7.3 Recycled content calculation of products, parts and materials . 17
7.3.1 Calculation of recycled content of products or parts . 17
7.3.2 Calculation of recycled content of materials . 19
8 Reporting recycled materials content . 19
8.1 General . 19
8.2 Elements of the assessment report . 20
8.2.1 General . 20
8.2.2 Generic information . 20
8.2.3 Scope of assessment. 20
8.2.4 Input data and approach for the assessment . 20
8.2.5 Output of the assessment . 20
8.2.6 CoC related information . 20
8.3 Recycled content claims . 20
8.4 Value chain communication . 21
8.5 Digital information system for balancing the mass of a production process . 21
Annex A (normative) Chain of custody models for recycled content accounting . 23
A.1 General . 23
A.2 Chain of custody models . 23
A.2.1 Identity preservation chain of custody model . 23
A.2.2 Physical segregation chain of custody model . 23
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A.2.3 Controlled blending chain of custody model . 24
A.2.4 Mass balance chain of custody model . 24
A.2.5 Book and claim chain of custody model . 29
Annex B (normative) Accounting materials as pre- or post-consumer recycled material . 31
B.1 General . 31
B.2 Plastics . 31
B.2.1 General . 31
B.2.2 Regrinding, granulating. 31
B.2.3 Compounding . 32
B.2.4 Chemical recycling of plastics . 32
B.2.5 End-of-life plastic materials . 32
B.3 Metals . 32
B.4 Glass . 33
Annex C (informative) Example of the calculation of recycled content of a product . 34
C.1 General . 34
C.2 Step 1: Balancing the mass of all parts . 34
C.3 Step 2: Breaking down to one product . 35
Annex D (normative) Target audience and sensitivity levels . 36
D.1 Target audience . 36
D.2 Data sensitivity . 36
D.2.1 General . 36
D.2.2 Level 1 – PUBLIC . 37
D.2.3 Level 2 – RESTRICTED . 37
D.2.4 Level 3 – CONFIDENTIAL . 37
Bibliography . 38

Figure 1 – Graphical representation of a supply chain mapping for a product containing
plastic and steel parts (example A) and plastics parts (example B) . 11
Figure 2 – Concept of pre-consumer recycled material. 13
Figure 3 – Concept of post-consumer recycled material . 14
Figure 4 – Graphical representation of the physical presence and other aspects
amongst the CoC models . 15
Figure A.1 – Graphical representation of the identity preservation CoC model . 23
Figure A.2 – Graphical representation of the physical segregation CoC model . 24
Figure A.3 – Graphical representation of the controlled blending CoC model . 24
Figure A.4 – Graphical representation of mass balance CoC model proportional
attribution . 26
Figure A.5 – Graphical representation of mass balance CoC model proportional
attribution with an instance of zero physical presence . 26
Figure A.6 – Graphical representation of the non-proportional (or free) attribution mass
balance CoC model . 27
Figure A.7 – Graphical representation of the book and claim CoC model . 30

Table A.1 – NOTE FROM THE SECRETARIAT / QUESTION TO NCs: . 23
Table C.1 – Overview of inputs, outputs and losses of all parts . 34

IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
Assessment of circular content in products -
Part 3: Proportion of recycled materials (Proposed Horizontal Publication)

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for
standardization comprising all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees).
The object of IEC is to promote international co-operation on all questions concerning
standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and in addition to other
activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as "IEC
Publication(s)"). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National
Committee interested in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work.
International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also
participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two
organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as
possible, an international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical
committee has representation from all interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted
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the technical content of IEC Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the
way in which they are used or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
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IEC is not responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
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7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including
individual experts and members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for
any personal injury, property damage or other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct
or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and expenses arising out of the publication, use
of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced
publications is indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve
the use of (a) patent(s). IEC takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability
of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document,
IEC had not received notice of (a) patent(s), which may be required to implement this document.
However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

may be obtained from the patent database available at https://patents.iec.ch. IEC shall not be
held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC 63333-3 has been prepared by IEC technical committee TC 111: Environmental
standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems. It is an International
Standard.
IEC 63333-3 is based on EN 45557:2020 [1] , which was prepared by the CEN and CENELEC
Joint Technical Committee 10 "Energy-related products - Material efficiency Aspects for
Ecodesign" (CEN-CLC/JTC 10). The document has been adopted with modifications.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
XX/XX/FDIS XX/XX/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
– reconfirmed,
– withdrawn, or
– revised.
___________
Numbers in square brackets refer to the bibliography.
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

INTRODUCTION
Recycled material content is a characteristic of a product or its parts, which contributes to
material efficiency and circularity.
Focusing on the efficient and effective use of natural resources, substituting primary materials
with recycled materials reduces primary materials demand and can positively affect
environmental, societal and economic aspects. These could include reduced mining and
consumption of natural resources, reduced landfill, reduced emissions to water, air, and land,
and energy savings. The net environmental impact associated with replacing primary materials
depends on the difference in the impacts of producing raw materials from primary sources (oil,
ore, etc.) vs. reprocessing end-of-life (EoL) products or waste into recycled materials.
This document facilitates the provision of substantiated claims of the recycled content of
products. Key for substantiated claims for new products is the recognition of the chain of
custody (CoC), which refers to all players in the supply chain that take possession (custody) of
the recycled material, including manufacturers, transporters, exporters, processors and
recyclers as well as traceability, which allows to follow the movement of the recyc led materials
through the specified stages of production, processing and distribution.
Primary materials and recycled materials are often physically or chemically indistinguishable
and emerging methods for measuring the recycled content in a product or part in a reliable,
accurate and reproducible manner are currently not available. For the purpose of this document,
the verification of recycled content in a product, part of material therefore relies on documented
proof for traceability (see Clause 6) provided by the relevant actors in the chain of custody
(CoC). Recycled content is expressed as the mass ratio of recycled materials used to the total
production output of products over a specific period of time.
This document elaborates on the following aspects in assessing recycled content:
a) Description of the scope of the assessment (see 4.1);
b) Description of the system boundary for each production process in the supply chain (see
4.2 );
c) Description of the source of the recycled material inputs to each production process
(including breakdown of pre-consumer or post-consumer recycled material), and the
material composition of output products, parts or materials (see 5.4);
d) A process to trace the type of material inputs (primary and recycled materials) separately
and the link with chain-of-custody models (see Clause 6 and Annex A);
e) Balancing the input and output masses calculation, linking recycled content of products,
parts and materials in relation to total mass of materials in the products, parts and materials
produced (see 7.2).
f) Finally, 7.3 elaborates on how to calculate the recycled content of a product or its parts, as
well how to determine the recycled content of materials.
NOTE 1 Manufacturers can be product manufacturers, part manufacturers or material manufacturers.
The IEC 63333 series on ‘Assessment of circular content in products’ consists currently of the
following planned or published parts:
– IEC 63333: General method for assessing the proportion of reused components in products
– IEC 63333-3: Assessment of circular content in products - Part 3: Proportion of recycled
materials
NOTE 2 During its first review, IEC 63333 will have its number and title modified to IEC 63333 -2: Assessment of
circular content in products - Part 2: Proportion of reused content.
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

1 Scope
This part of IEC 63333 series specifies a general method for assessing the recycled content in
products, parts or materials.
This document can be also applied by technical committees to develop product specific
standards.
This document applies to electrical and electronic products, parts or materials and can also be
applied to other product types.
This document does not cover aspects such as quality, conformity with legislation or physical
properties of recycled materials. It is the responsibility of the user of this document to address
these aspects.
This document has the status of horizontal publication of the category basic and type test
method in accordance with IEC GUIDE 123:2025 [2] and IEC GUIDE 108:2019 [3]. It belongs
to the approved Horizontal Function “Assessments of proportion of recycled, reused and
renewable content in electrical and electronic products and systems”.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
– IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
– ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1 Terms and definitions relating to products, parts and materials
3.1.1.1
primary material
virgin material
primary raw material
virgin raw material
material that has not been previously used or subjected to processing other than its own
production
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-03-09]
3.1.1.2
recovered material
useful material that has been recovered from discarded material generated during a
manufacturing process, end-of-life products or waste
Note 1 to entry: Recovered material refers to the sum of the various fractions of materials obtained from
manufacturing processes, end-of-life products or waste excluding material used to produce energy and excluding
material used for backfilling purposes.
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-03-11, modified – The Figure and the Note 2 to
entry related to homographs were removed]
3.1.1.3
recycled material
material reprocessed from end-of-life products or waste that is of the same or similar type as
the original material and that is ready to be used in manufacturing of products
Note 1 to entry: Recycled material can be pre- or post-consumer.
Note 2 to entry: Recycled material refers to the sum of the various fractions of materials recycled from end -of-life
products or waste like metals, plastics, etc., excluding alternate material and material used to produce energy.
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026,193-03-12, modified – The reference to the Figure was
removed]
3.1.1.4
pre-consumer recycled material
material that has been recycled from material discarded during a manufacturing process
Note 1 to entry: Excluded is reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind or scrap capable of being reclaimed
within the same process.
Note 2 to entry: Pre-consumer recycled material is sometimes referred to as post-industrial recycled material.
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026,193-03-13]
3.1.1.5
post-consumer recycled material
material that has been recycled from end-of-life products or waste originated from end-users
Note 1 to entry: End-users can be individuals or entities such as households, or commercial, industrial or
institutional facilities in their role as end-users.
Note 2 to entry: This also includes returns of material from the distribution chain.
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-04-14]
3.1.1.6
recycled content
recycled material content
proportion, by mass, of recycled material
Note 1 to entry: Only pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled content are considered as recycled content.
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-04-16, modified – The Figure and Note 2 to entry
have been removed]
3.1.1.7
product
good, service, or combination thereof
Note 1 to entry: Product can be an individual part, component, device, equipment, subsystem, or system.
Note 2 to entry: A product can consist of hardware, liquid, gas or other physical matter, software, firmware or any
combination thereof.
Note 3 to entry: A combination of goods and services is sometimes referred to as "solution".
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-02-01, modified – The Figure and Notes 4 and 5 to
entry were removed]
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3.1.1.8
finished product
manufactured article ready for end-use
[SOURCE: ISO 19376-1:2025, 3.4.2]
3.1.1.9
part
constituent of a product
EXAMPLE Hardware or other physical matter (e.g. liquid or gas), software, firmware, etc.
Note 1 to entry: A part can be an assembly, a sub-assembly or a component.
Note 2 to entry: Firmware and software are not relevant for the purpose of this document.
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-02-02, modified – The Figure and Note 2 to entry
were removed and a new Note 2 to entry was added]
3.1.1.10
waste
material or object that the holder discards or is required to discard
Note 1 to entry: Triggers to discard can include:
– function no longer available,
– change in the holder’s needs or desires,
– interoperability loss,
– object no longer repairable or serviceable due to loss or unavailability of spare parts, consumables or technical
information.
Note 2 to entry: Material or object that is lost or abandoned by the holder (litter or rubbish) can also be considered
waste.
Note 3 to entry: For environmental protection and traceability purposes, waste must be captured by a waste
management system.
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-04-01, modified – The Figure and Note 4 to entry
were removed]
3.1.2 Terms and definitions relating to chain of custody and traceability
3.1.2.1
chain of custody
CoC
process by which inputs and outputs and associated information are transferred, monitored and
controlled as they move through each step in the relevant supply chain
[SOURCE: ISO 22095:2020, 3.1.1]
3.1.2.2
traceability
ability to trace the origin, history, application, location or certain characteristics of a product or
material
[SOURCE: IEC/FDIS 60050-193:2026, 193-01-09, modified – Note 1 to entry referring to
homographs was removed]
3.1.2.3
attribution
assignment of specified characteristics to outputs or part of the outputs
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[SOURCE: ISO 17887:2025, 3.1]
3.2 Abbreviations
The following abbreviations have been used in this document:
CoC chain of custody
EoL end-of-life
4 Setting the scope and system boundary of the assessment
4.1 Scope of the assessment
The users of this document performing the recycled content assessment shall define the scope
of the assessment and select its appropriate elements as detailed below. The assessment shall
be applied either to
– a product, or
– one or more parts of the product, or
– one or more materials in the product.
It is possible to perform the assessment of the product or parts at different levels, namely
– for all materials of the product or parts, or
– a type of material (e.g. plastic, metal, glass) of the product or parts (see also 5.2 for material
groups specification), or
– an individual material (e.g. polypropylene, aluminium, float glass) of the product or parts
(see 5.2 for material groups specification).
The users of this document shall determine and document the applicable elements of the scope
of the assessment, including whether the recycled content assessment is done only for the pre -
consumer recycled material or only for the post-consumer recycled material or for both.
4.2 Production process system boundaries
The users of this document performing the recycled content assessment shall identify the
system boundary for each (recycled content-related) production process which is present in the
supply chain in line with the scope of the assessment. Examples of system boundary are given
below.
a) Batch: Means a quantity of material of the same quality which is produced using uniform
production parameters at a certain manufacturing stage, stored and contained to exclude
mixing or contamination with other materials and designated as such by a single produc tion
number.
b) Production line: Means a set of interrelated or interacting activities that use inputs to
deliver an intended output. The production line can be operated as a continuous process a
semi-batch process or batch process.
c) Site: Means a location with geographical boundaries at which defined production lines under
the control of an organization are operated. For example, a site may have multiple buildings
connected by pipelines which interchange feedstock between the buildings. Sites may be in
one geographical area but need not be contiguous. For example, a road can separate two
geographical areas that are operated as a single site.
d) Sites with physical link: Means a group of sites under the control of an organisation which
are geographically distant but physically linked through the exchange feedstock, for
example through pipelines, railway, or road transportation.
e) Sites with company link: Means a group of sites under the control of an organisation which
are geographically distant and are not physically linked through the exchange of feedstock.
All sites are required to create the same material, produce the same branded product or
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

result in a product sold under the same trade name. The ‘sites with company link’ system
boundary separates the flow of claims from the actual material flows. In this model the
administrative record flow is not connected to the physical flow of products, p arts or
materials throughout the supply chain. As such, the actual recycled material in a product is
typically not representative of the claimed recycled content, and therefore this system
boundary is not supported by this document.
For the purpose of this document, materials that are designated as recycled material based on
‘sites with company link’ system boundary shall not be counted towards the recycled content.
4.3 Supply chain mapping
The users of this document performing the recycled content assessment shall ensure that a
mapping of the supply chain which identifies all relevant production processes which are
present in the supply chain for the scope of the assessment has been prepared .
rd
Where parts of the supply chain are covered by 3 party certificate(s) conforming with the
requirements in this document, the mapping of these parts of the supply chain production
processes is not necessary.
The supply chain mapping shall report the system boundary, CoC model (see Annex A for
details) and recycled content for each production process which is present in the supply chain
for the scope of the assessment. See Figure 1 for a graphical representation of a supply chain
mapping for a product.
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

Figure 1 – Graphical representation of a supply chain mapping for a product containing
plastic and steel parts (example A) and plastics parts (example B)
5 Recycled content communication and specification
5.1 Obtaining information about recycled content in the supply chain
Material declaration is a way to record and communicate the material composition, including
the recycled content contained in a product, part or material. To establish a material declaration,
each part of the product shall be assessed for the mass of its c onstituent materials, according
to the scope of assessment (see 4.1). The masses of the respective material fractions shall be
summed up to obtain the material composition of the parts or the whole product.
For communicating recycled content information related to a product, part, or material in the
value chain, material declarations should be used if available. They can be based on existing
standards such as the ISO and IEC dual logo IEC 82474-1:2025 [4] or the electrotechnical
specific IEC 62474:2018 [5].
For instance, recycled content is addressed in the ISO and IEC dual logo standard IEC 82474-
1:2025 [4] clauses 4.3 (product information), 4.5.3 (product parts in a composition declaration)
and 4.5.4 (materials in a composition declaration).
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

5.2 Specifying material groups
When a given material type can represent different grades of the same material, it may be
reported as a material group.
EXAMPLE Steel is produced in different grades for specific applications. The Society of Automotive Engineers lists
among others different grades of nickel-chromium steels with varying proportion of nickel and chromium, e.g. 31xx,
32xx, 33xx, 34xx.
Various grades of a material with similar physical and chemical properties may be treated as
one material group to determine the proportion of recycled content of a product.
Alloys may require the assignment to a certain material group. The users of this document shall
define the applicable material group for their product . The recycled content of the material
group shall be calculated by summing the mass of recycled material of each material grade and
dividing by the total mass of the material group.
5.3 Materials not in scope
It may be necessary to exclude parts or materials from being assigned to specific material group
due to their small size, complexity of their material composition or for other reasons, e.g.
administrative or legal. To keep the balance of mass even, these excluded parts or materials
shall be classified as "other materials" and be accounted for in the total mass of the product.
These other materials shall be treated as primary material. The users of this document may
determine limits for materials classified as other materials if applicable. They shall be justified
and documented.
5.4 Pre- and post-consumer recycled material
5.4.1 General
Recycled content is typically brought into a production process to substitute primary material.
The recycled material can be pre-consumer or post-consumer recycled material.
Only pre-consumer recycled materials and post-consumer recycled materials shall count
towards recycled content, in accordance with the definitions provided in Clause 3 of this
document and in line with specific guidance provided in Annex B for different material types.
5.4.2 Pre-consumer recycled material
Material which is or can be reclaimed and reutilized within the same process that generated it,
with only minor or no preparation (e.g. basic cleaning, cutting to size), shall not count towards
pre-consumer recycled material. This general concept can be visualized in Figure 2.
Figure 2 also shows that material processing is essentially a recycling process that includes
collection, treatment, and reprocessing of the material into raw material that can be used in
manufacturing processes.
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

Figure 2 – Concept of pre-consumer recycled material
Material which is or can be reclaimed and reutilized within the same process that generated it,
with only minor or no preparation (e.g. basic cleaning, cutting to size), shall not count towards
pre-consumer recycled material.
A material which is reclaimed and reutilized within the same process that generated it, as shown
in Figure 2, flowing through the “material preparation to be directly reused in process A” step,
shall retain the same pre- or post-consumer recycled content as the original material from which
it was derived. Scrap material that is not reclaimed may exit the system boundary of process A
(represented by the ‘No’ arrow to the right of the decision step (diamond)). If it undergoes a
material processing step such as recycling, it is considered pre-consumer recycled material and
can be considered as such for use in process A or other production processes. If the scrap
material does not undergo material processing, it can still be used as recovered material in
other production processes. For detailed information on specific types of materials see Annex
B.
EXAMPLE For most materials the recycled content is fixed in a process where the material is transformed from a
liquid to a solid state. In the case of steel making, the recycled content is fixed after melting and casting into a solid
slab, bloom, billet or ingot. Scrap originating from the melt shop, such as solidified steel from steelmaking vessels
(skulls) or rejected castings, would be excluded from the calculation of pre-consumer recycled material, because
they can be reclaimed within the same melting process that generated them. This is regardless of the fact that the
scrap may need to be further prepared in order to make it suitable for use in a production process, such as cutting
to certain size. In the case of plastic injection moulding, rejects from this pr ocess which are reclaimed and reutilized
within the same process would not be considered pre-consumer recycled material.
It is also important to describe where process A ends. There may be times process A includes
subsequent process steps, and the product, part or material cannot be diverted to different
processing steps until the end of that process step. At the end of proc ess A, the output can no
longer change its inherent recycled content (i.e. it is frozen or fixed). Material recovered from
further processing after process A could be included as pre-consumer recycled material,
because it has to go back to process A or it can go to another manufacturing process.
Additional guidance on material processing and whether the materials can be qualified as pre -
consumer recycled material can be found in Annex B.
5.4.3 Post-consumer recycled material
Materials obtained from end-of-life products or waste are considered post-consumer materials
(see Figure 3). Materials obtained from products that have reached the end of their life shortly
after being traded commercially or having left the final manufacturing facility are also considered
post-consumer materials. This might happen when products are damaged or cannot be sold
and remain in their distribution chain (e.g. a new version of a product replaces the previous one
which cannot be sold anymore). Materials can only be considered post-consumer material after
they were part of a finished product (for the end-user) and are subsequently discarded.
IEC CDV 63333-3 ED1 © IEC 2026

NOTE In this document, the term "finished product" is used to describe a fully assembled product. The notion of a
finished product is used to distinguish product manufacturers from material or part manufacturers. See also the
definition of finished product finished product (3.1.1.8).

Figure 3 – Concept of post-consumer recycled material
EXAMPLE Float glass used in the manufacture of a window is considered as post-consumer recycled material if it
has been assembled in an insulation glass unit that had been scrapped. Prior to this moment, it will be considered
as pre-consumer recycled material.
6 Traceability
A traceability process able to track recycled materials from when they are identified as recycled
materials by the recycler to their final application (e.g. used to manufacture a new product) shall
be implemented. Traceability information of the recycled materials is needed to calculate
recycled content.
Given that there are currently no reliable, accurate and reproducible methods available for
directly measuring the recycled content in a product, the verification of recycled content is
based solely on documentation.
For the purpose of the assessment, information allowing traceability of the recycled content in
products, parts or materials shall be gathered based on a CoC model of choice described in
Annex A. The documentation associated with the recycled content assessment, for instance the
type (pre- or post-consumer), the mass of the recycled material and the CoC model applied
shall be documented according to Clause 8.
The users of this document shall verify which CoC model is used at each production process in
the supply chain based upon the types introduced in Annex A taking into account the feasibility
of tracing recycled material inputs with each of the different methods.
The users of this document shall use the same CoC model as their supplier or, when different
types of CoC models are used for different parts or materials supplied, the u
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