The Declare program requires that manufacturers publicly disclose a minimum of 99% of the product’s ingredients. If a manufacturer is unable to obtain the disclosure levels required for participation in Declare due to claims of intellectual property by the supplier of an innovative material, the manufacturer may use the Innovative Materials Inventory Exception to demonstrate that it meets the intent of documentation requirements I08-1 3PV Declare Label and I08-2 GreenScreen List Translator Scores. The product manufacturer must demonstrate the information withheld by the supplier is for an innovative material and considered intellectual property; that the supplier is unwilling to disclose innovative materials information after repeated requests; and that there are no alternate suppliers of the innovative material with appropriate disclosure to meet the Declare reporting requirements. This exception may only be used for one homogenous material in the product.
The manufacturer must:
- Conduct and demonstrate extensive research to identify alternative suppliers; herein defined as engagement of at least 10 suppliers (or the number of existing applicable suppliers, whichever is less)
- Provide a statement from leadership or R&D Department at the company pursuing certification, indicating that they are unable to purchase a material that meets both transparency and manufacturing needs
- Complete LPC I07-1 Product Inventory with all publicly available CAS Numbers.
- They should also have their R&D team complete the inventory to the best of their ability based on extensive outreach and product knowledge.
- Known versus suspected CAS#s should be differentiated visually in the submission.
- Screen all disclosed (known) and suspected CAS Numbers against the LBC Red List and demonstrate that the product is free of any Red List ingredients not covered by a temporary exception.
- Provide a Red List Free statement from the Supplier, to be confirmed by the approved Declare 3rd Party verifier, for any publicly undisclosed ingredients at or above 100 ppm within the innovative material.
- If the supplier is unwilling to disclose chemistry to the verifier under NDA, the 3rd Party Verifier cannot confirm Red List Free and the manufacturer will have to conduct physical testing of the product by an approved testing party
- Provide the results of a toxicological assessment by an approved third party demonstrating that the material is free of any risk of exposure to Red List ingredients, as well as Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxics and Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins at or above 100 ppm in the final product, as defined in the Transparent Material Health Imperative.
- If the supplier is unwilling, after exhaustive attempts, to disclose sufficient compositional chemistry data for a toxicological review by an approved third party, the manufacturer may submit to ILFI for approval to contract an approved third party to conduct physical testing of the product to demonstrate that there are no Red List ingredients present in the final product. The manufacturer should submit for approval prior to testing the product to ensure that this approach is approved. The testing report should be accompanied by a narrative by the testing body to explain any assumptions and test parameters.
- Provide the supplier with a letter communicating the manufacturer will continue to seek additional disclosure and will also research alternate suppliers willing to provide the required level of disclosure.
For the product to be eligible for recertification through the Living Product Challenge the manufacturer must reassess alternate supplier options on an annual basis to obtain greater transparency. Documentation of annual research and outreach must be provided during the recertification process. If an alternate supplier with appropriate disclosure is identified, the product will no longer be eligible for the Innovative Material Inventory Exception at the time of recertification. If the manufacturer is unable to achieve required transparency they must continue to physically test or confirm product chemistry on an annual basis.
