The bio-based products market has been identified as a lead market by the European Commission’s Lead Market Initiative. The Lead Market Initiative aims to support the up-take of the sectors indentified with policy instruments such as regulation, public procurements, standardization and other supporting activities, in order to lower barriers to bring these new products onto the market.
Standards are seen as essential elements in aggregating initial demand, in particular for new bio-based products. Standards for bio-based products can help to increase market transparency by providing common reference methods and requirements in order to verify claims about these products (e.g. bio-degradability, bio-based content, recyclability, sustainability). The importance of standards is also highlighted by the European Commission Communication COM (2012)60 on a Bioeconomy for Europe and in the Commission Communication COM (2012)582 on A Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economy Recovery, which identifies bio-based products as one of the priority lines in which to focus investments and innovation.
