EU member states launched the “Eco-Design of Use Equipment” draft in October 2002 and in October, 2003 formally proposed “Energy product Eco-Design Directive” to the EU parliament. The directive stipulates that manufacturers must consider product lifecycles and requirements of Eco-Design are incorporated into product design development.

At the same time that ECS is developing new products, it evaluates the product’s entire lifecycle and the impact it will have on the environment. It also considers the product’s environmental qualities and identifies possible alternative technologies to enhance environmental performance.  This helps to develop environmentally-friendly products.  Product lifecycles should include mining of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, installation, maintenance, use and disposal stages of the final product.  Assessment of products includes the following:

　 Materials, energy and resource consumption
　 Emissions into and pollution of air, water and soil
　 Noise, vibration and electromagnetic radiation effects.
　 Waste production
　 Consideration of possible product recall in accordance with EU 2002/96/EC (WEEE)

With the above considerations and other environmental aspects, the following parameters can be used for more detailed evaluation:

	Weight and volume of products
	Use of recycling material
	Overall energy consumption throughout the product’s lifecycle.
	Prevent the use of materials hazardous to the environment in accordance with 2002/95/EC (RoHS)
	Ease of recycling design that includes: number of materials and components used, use of standard components, disassembly time, assessment of special tools required for dismantling, materials and components with markings (e.g. use of plastic ISO tags), use of easily-recycled materials, easy separation of parts or hazardous material and other suggestions.
	Abolishment of using components that can’t be recycled.
	Waste production estimates (also includes hazardous waste)
	Air pollutant emissions (e.g. substances that deplete the ozone layer, acidic substances, heavy metals, suspended particle…etc.)
	Water pollutant emissions (e.g. heavy metals, substances that disrupt the balance of oxygen in the water)