Verification / validation requirements

The verifier(s) shall describe all the outcomes related to the verification of the OEF study, OEF report and OEF communication vehicles and give the commissioner of the OEF study the opportunity to improve the work, if necessary. Depending on the nature of the outcomes, additional iterations of comments and responses may be necessary. Any changes made in response to the verification outcomes shall be documented in the verification report.

The verification/validation shall be done by combining documental review and model validation.

 the documental review includes the OEF report, the technical content of any communication vehicle, and the data used in the calculations through requested underlying documents. Verifier(s) may organise the documental review either as an “at desk” or “on site” exercise, or as a mix of the two. The verification of the company-specific data shall always be organised through a visit of the production site(s) the data refer to.

 the validation of the model may take place at the production site of the commissioner of the study or be organised remotely. The verifier(s) shall access the model to verify its structure, the data used, and its consistency with the OEF report. The details about how the verifier(s) accesses the model shall be agreed by the commissioner of the OEF study and the verifier(s).

The verification may take place at the end of the OEF study or in parallel (concurrent) to the study.

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The verifier(s) shall ensure that data verification/validation includes:

(a) coverage, precision, completeness, representativeness, consistency, reproducibility, sources and uncertainty;

(b) plausibility, quality and accuracy of the LCA-based data;

(c) quality and accuracy of additional environmental and technical information; (d) quality and accuracy of the supporting information.

The validation of the OEF report shall be carried out by checking enough information to provide reasonable assurance that the OEF report fulfils all the conditions listed in section 8.4.1.

The verification and validation of the OEF study shall be carried out by following the minimum requirements listed below.

8.4.1 Minimum requirements for the verification and validation of the OEF

study

The verifier(s) shall validate the accuracy and reliability of the quantitative information used in the calculation of the study. As this may be highly resource intensive, the following requirements shall be followed:

 the verifier shall check if the correct version of all impact assessment methods was used. For each of the most relevant EF impact categories (ICs), at least 50% of the characterisation factors shall be verified, while all normalisation and weighting factors of all ICs shall be verified. In particular, the verifier shall check that the characterisation factors correspond to those included in the EF impact assessment method the study declares compliance with83_;

 cut-off applied (if any) fulfils the requirements at section 4.6.4;

 all the newly created datasets shall be checked on their EF compliance (for the

meaning of EF compliant datasets refer to

http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/LCDN/developerEF.xhtml). All their underlying data (elementary flows, activity data and sub processes) shall be validated;

 for at least 70% of the most relevant processes (by number) in situation 2 option 2 of the DNM, 70% of the underlying numbers shall be validated. The 70% data shall include all energy and transport sub-processes for processes in situation 2 option 2;

 for at least 60% of the most relevant processes (by number) in situation 3 of the DNM, 60% of the underlying data shall be validated;

 for at least 50% of the other processes (by number) in situation 1, 2 and 3 of the DNM, 50% of the underlying data shall be validated.

The verifier shall put together in a single list all the most relevant processes coming from all the most relevant impact categories, together with their situation in the DNM.

For all processes to be validated, it shall be checked if the DQR satisfies the minimum DQR as specified in the OEF method (see section 4.6.5.4).

These data checks shall include, but should not be limited to, the activity data used, the selection of secondary sub-processes, the selection of the direct elementary flows and the CFF parameters. For example, if there are 5 processes and each one of them includes 5 activity data, 5 secondary datasets and 10 CFF parameters, then the verifier(s) has to check at least 4 out of 5 processes (70%) and, for each process, (s)he shall check at least 4 activity data (70% of the total amount of activity data), 4 secondary datasets (70% of

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the total amount of secondary datasets), and 7 CFF parameters (70% of the total amount of CFF parameters), i.e. the 70% of each of data that could be possible subject of check.

8.4.2 Verification and validation techniques

The verifier shall assess and confirm whether the calculation methodologies applied are of acceptable accuracy, reliable, are appropriate and performed in accordance to the OEF method. The verifier shall confirm the correct application of conversion of measurement units.

The verifier shall check if applied sampling procedures are in accordance with the sampling procedure defined in the OEF method. The data reported shall be checked against the source documentation in order to check their consistency.

The verifiers shall evaluate whether the methods for making estimates are appropriate and have been applied consistently.

The verifier may assess alternatives to estimations or choices made, in the assertion to determine whether a conservative choice has been selected.

The verifier may identify uncertainties that are greater than expected and assess the effect of the identified uncertainty on the final OEF results.

8.4.3 Data confidentiality

Data for validation shall be presented in a systematic and comprehensive way, all the project documentation supporting the validation of a OEF study shall be provided to the verifier(s), including the EF model, the confidential information and data. This data and information shall be treated as confidential and shall be used only during the verification process.

Confidential information may be excluded from the report, provided that:

 the request for non-disclosure only cover input information, not any output information;

 the commissioner of the OEF study provides the verifier with sufficient information of the nature of the data and information, and the reason for the request of excluding the data or information from the study report;

 the verifier accept the non-disclosure and include in the verification report the reasons for doing so;

 the commissioner of the OEF study keep a file of the non-disclosed information for possible future re-evaluation of the decision of non-disclosure.

Business data could be of confidential nature because of competition aspects, intellectual property rights or similar legal restrictions. Therefore, business data identified as confidential and provided during validation process shall be kept confidential. Hence, verifiers shall not disseminate or otherwise retain for use, without the permission of the organisation, any information disclosed to them during the course of the review work. The commissioner of the OEF study may ask to the verifier(s) to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

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8.5 Outputs of the verification/ validation process