7.8.98 Official Journal of the European Communities L 219/39 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 7 April 1998 establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the Community eco-label to soil improvers (98/488/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 880/92 of 23 March 1992 on a Community eco-label award scheme ('), and in particular Article 5 thereof, Whereas Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 880/92 provides that the conditions for the award of the Community eco-label shall be defined by product group; Whereas Article 10(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 880/92 states that the environmental performance of a product shall be assessed by reference to the specific criteria for product groups; Whereas, by Decision 94/923/EC (%), the Commission established ecological criteria for the award of the Community eco-label to soil improvers, which, according to Article 3 thereof, were valid until 14 November 1997; Whereas it is appropriate to adopt a new Decision estab- lishing criteria for this product group, which will be valid for a further period of three years after the expiry of the period of validity of the previous criteria; Whereas it is appropriate to revise the criteria which were established by Decision 94/923/EC in order to reflect the developments in the market; Whereas products must be in compliance with national legislation which is in conformity with Community health, safety and environmental requirements without prejudice to regulatory requirements of Community or national law applicable to the various life stages of the product; () OJ L 99, 11. 4. 1992, p. 1. () OJ L 364, 31. 12. 1994, p. 21. Whereas in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No 880/92 the Commission has consulted the principal interest groups within a consultation forum; Whereas the measures set out in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the committee set up pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 880/92, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 The product group ‘soil improvers’ shall mean: ‘Materials sold as end user products for gardening to be added to the soil to improve at least its physical condition or its physical and biological condition without causing harmful effects’ Article 2 The environment performance of the product group as defined in Article 1 shall be assessed by reference to the specific ecological criteria set out in the Annex. Article 3 The product group definition and the specific ecological criteria for the product group shall be valid from 1 April 1998 until 31 March 2001. Article 4 For administrative purposes, the product group code number assigned by the Commission to this product group shall be ‘003’.