This International Standard establishes the principles and specifies the procedures for developing Type III environmental declaration programmes and Type III environmental declarations. It specifically establishes the use of the ISO 14040 series of standards in the development of Type III environmental declaration programmes and Type III environmental declarations.

This International Standard establishes principles for the use of environmental information, in addition to those given in ISO 14020.

Type III environmental declarations as described in this International Standard are primarily intended for use in business-to-business communication, but their use in business-to-consumer communication under certain conditions is not precluded.

This International Standard does not override, or in any way change, legally required environmental information, claims or labelling, or any other applicable legal requirements.

This International Standard does not include sector-specific provisions, which may be dealt with in other ISO documents. It is intended that sector-specific provisions in other ISO documents related to Type III environmental declarations be based on and use the principles and procedures of this International Standard.