TYPE I
Self-declaration of conformity.
The manufacturer declares — under legal liability — that the product meets a named standard. Internal testing; brand carries the legal risk. Standard practice for all VOC declarations under EU 2004/42/EC.
Trust Hub · Chapter Two
How is independently
verified.
Every product claim on this site is backed by a dated document — a German testing institute, a numbered DIN standard, an EU regulation, or a per-product report from an accredited laboratory. Food-contact safety for LEINOS 280 runs through EU 1935/2004 + LFGB §31 + the WESSLING test report CAL24-0568511. This is the catalogue of those documents — what each one tests, who issues it, and what it does and does not say.
Documented, Not Claimed.
Definition · Methodology
What “third-party certified” actually means.
The word certified hides four very different methodologies. Architects and contractors specifying on the strength of a cert should know which one they are looking at.
TYPE II
Batch-specific third-party report.
An accredited independent laboratory tests a defined batch and issues a dated, numbered report — e.g. the WESSLING food-contact report for LEINOS 280 (Cert CAL24-0568511, valid through 29 July 2026).
TYPE III
Type-approval with continuous surveillance.
A certification body (EPH at ihd Dresden, or ift Rosenheim as EU Notified Body 0757) certifies the product type and re-audits periodically. The German DIBt abZ sits in this class — a 5-year renewable national approval.
TYPE IV
Voluntary ecolabel certification.
Schemes like Blauer Engel (DE-UZ 12a), EU Ecolabel and natureplus combine an audited application file with chemistry and emission tests against published criteria. Renewable, revocable, publicly listed.
Inventory · Verified Certifications
Which certifications back products?
Each entry below is surfaced from at least one LEINOS-side document and verified against the issuing body. Pending certifications (Blauer Engel, EU Ecolabel, natureplus, M1, current ISO and Öko-Test numbers) are intentionally omitted until verified — we publish what we can document.
DIN EN 71-3:2019
CEN · DIN Media
Migration of 19 elements from toy-surface materials into simulated gastric acid (ICP-MS / ICP-OES).
DIN 53160-1/2
DIN, Berlin
Colour transfer to filter paper under 2 h exposure to artificial saliva and sweat at body temperature.
DIN 68861-1
DIN, Berlin
Furniture-surface resistance to 26 household chemicals. Load groups 1A (highest) — 1F (lowest).
ift Rosenheim
Notified Body 0757, founded 1966
Window- and facade-coating test battery: mortar discolouration, vapour permeability, weather, profile compatibility.
ihd Dresden / EPH
Institut für Holztechnologie, founded 1952
Wood-finish durability — surface emission, abrasion, weathering, biological resistance, light fastness.
DIBt abZ Z-157.10
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
German national technical approval for commercial wood-floor coating systems. 5-year renewable.
EU Directive 2004/42/EC
European Parliament & Council
Maximum VOC content (g/L) per paint category. Phase II limits in force since 1 January 2010.
EU Regulation 1935/2004
European Parliament & Council
EU framework — materials in contact with food must not endanger human health or alter food composition.
LFGB §31
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL)
German food-contact law. National implementation of EU 1935/2004 + rules for everyday articles.
WESSLING report (LEINOS 280)
WESSLING GmbH, Altenberge · DAkkS-accredited
Per-product food-contact migration testing against LFGB §31 + EU 1935/2004. Valid through 29 July 2026.
InVeNa membership
Internationaler Verband der Naturbauhersteller
Voluntary pledge of complete ingredient disclosure across the entire product range, independently verified.
DAkkS accreditation
Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH
German national accreditation body under EU 765/2008. Underpins WESSLING, ift Rosenheim and EPH credentials.
Method · What each cert tests
Five certifications, in detail.
Deep Dive · 4.1
DIN EN 71-3:2019+A1:2021 — Migration of certain elements.
What it tests
EN 71-3 simulates the chemistry of a child swallowing a fragment of a toy surface. A defined sample is immersed in hydrochloric acid at 0.07 mol/L — the molarity of stomach acid — at 37 °C for one hour. The extract is then analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) or optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for migration of nineteen elements: aluminium, antimony, arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium (III), chromium (VI), cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, strontium, tin, organic tin and zinc.
Pass criteria
Maximum migration in mg/kg per element across three material categories: I (dry/brittle/powder-like), II (liquid/sticky), III (scraped-off material). A wood finish on a children's surface is typically Category III. Limits are tight: lead 23 mg/kg, cadmium 17 mg/kg, mercury 60 mg/kg in Category III; organic tin in single digits.
Limitations
EN 71-3 measures migration of nineteen specified elements only. It is silent on organic toxicants, sensitisers, VOC emissions, and mechanical safety. "Passes EN 71-3" does not mean "non-toxic" in all senses — it means migration of these specific elements is below the thresholds the European Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC considers safe for a child swallowing the material.
Legal anchor
The standard is harmonised under Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC; placing a non-conforming toy or toy-surface coating on the EU market is illegal. Published by CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) and republished in Germany by DIN Media GmbH (formerly Beuth Verlag).
Deep Dive · 4.2
DIN 68861-1 — Furniture-surface resistance to chemical attack.
What it tests
Up to 26 test substances — coffee, red wine, cola, vinegar, mustard, fruit juice, alkali cleaners, ethanol, acetone, and more — applied to the cured surface over a defined contact time (6 h / 16 h / 24 h depending on substance). After exposure the surface is wiped, allowed to recover, and inspected for visual change, gloss change and softening against a 5-grade severity scale.
Pass criteria
Classification by load group, 1A (highest) through 1F (lowest). 1A is the heavy-traffic and professional-kitchen grade — the level a hardwax-oil floor or solid-wood kitchen worktop has to pass to be specified for hospitality work. Physically-drying lacquers typically reach 1C; chemically-cured 2K coatings 1B; the best oil-wax systems 1A. LEINOS 290 Interior Hardwax Oil is documented as passing 1A.
Limitations
Surface-chemistry only. Says nothing about scratch resistance, abrasion (separate standards: DIN EN 15186 / DIN 68861-2 / Taber abrasion), heat resistance (DIN 68861-7) or impact (DIN 68861-4).
Issuing body
DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung), Berlin, founded 1917. Tests are conducted by any accredited laboratory; for LEINOS this is typically ihd Dresden / EPH.
Deep Dive · 4.3
ift Rosenheim — window & facade coating compatibility.
What it is
ift Rosenheim is a German testing institute founded in 1966 and accredited as EU Construction Products Regulation Notified Body 0757. For wood coatings in window and facade applications, ift runs a standard test battery LEINOS surfaces verbatim on its quality page: mortar discolouration, water-vapour permeability, sealing-profile compatibility, weather resistance.
What it tests
Mortar discolouration — the coating is held in cured cement contact under controlled humidity to check that alkalinity does not bleed colour. Water-vapour permeability — measured per EN ISO 12572 / EN 1062-1, establishing the s_d value architects use to decide whether a coating "breathes." Sealing-profile compatibility — cured coating held in contact with EPDM elastomers to check for plasticiser migration. Weather resistance — accelerated UV / temperature / water cycling per EN ISO 16474 series.
Accreditation chain
ift Rosenheim → DAkkS (Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle, the German national accreditation body) → European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) Multilateral Agreement → International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
Limitations
ift Rosenheim reports are issued for a specific product on a specific substrate under specific application conditions. They do not generalise to other species or other coats. Report number, date and scope must be cited together.
Deep Dive · 4.4
ihd Dresden / EPH — wood-finish durability.
What it is
Institut für Holztechnologie Dresden gGmbH (ihd) is the German applied-research institute for wood technology, founded 1952 and today employing roughly 120 staff. EPH (Entwicklungs- und Prüflabor Holztechnologie) is its in-house testing and certification body, operating internationally and certifying products mainly in the wood and furniture industries.
What it tests for wood finishes
Surface emission (chamber tests linked to AgBB / DIN EN 16516), abrasion resistance (Taber abraser per DIN 68861-2 or EN ISO 7784), scratch resistance, light fastness, biological resistance (mould, blue stain — for exterior coatings), formaldehyde release. The institute is also a primary research site for new test methodologies that later become DIN or EN standards.
Accreditation chain
EPH → DAkkS → EA-MLA → IAF.
Limitations
Like ift Rosenheim, ihd / EPH reports are product- and substrate-specific. A finish that passes on European oak will not automatically have the same Taber-abrasion classification on Indian teak — the report's substrate scope matters.
Deep Dive · 4.5
EU Directive 2004/42/EC — VOC ceilings (Decopaint).
What it does
Sets maximum volatile organic compound (VOC) content in g/L for each category of decorative paint and varnish placed on the EU market. Categories include interior matt walls (cat. a), interior glossy walls (cat. b), exterior masonry (cat. c), interior/exterior trim and cladding paints for wood and metal (cat. d), interior/exterior varnishes and woodstains (cat. e), decorative effect coatings (cat. l). Phase I limits from 2007, Phase II tighter limits in force from 1 January 2010 — and unchanged since.
Pass criteria
Hard ceilings by category, in g/L of the ready-to-use product. For solvent-borne wood varnishes (cat. e, SB) the Phase II ceiling is 400 g/L; for water-borne (cat. e, WB) 130 g/L. For solvent-borne paints in category f (performance / specialty) the ceiling is 500 g/L.
Limitations
Decopaint regulates content, not emissions. A paint can meet the Decopaint VOC ceiling and still emit poorly in a sealed room — which is why German specification of indoor-air quality also requires AgBB emission-chamber testing alongside the Decopaint compliance number.
Legal anchor
EU Directive transposed into national paint regulations across all 27 member states. Compliance is not optional — non-conforming products cannot legally be sold.
Safety · Natural. Not unconditional.
Read the cert,
not the seal.
Snapshots, not guarantees
A test is a measurement on a date.
A test certificate measures a defined sample, on a defined date, against a defined method. The next batch is assumed to behave the same way because the formulation is documented unchanged — that is the role of ISO 9001 and the InVeNa full-disclosure pledge. The day a manufacturer reformulates without re-testing, every prior certificate becomes irrelevant. This is why DIBt national approvals are issued for five years and renewable only after re-audit: the regulator is on record about how long a snapshot should be trusted.
Indian Context · BIS, CPCB, IGBC
Why the German trail still travels.
India's Bureau of Indian Standards publishes IS 15489 for emulsion paints; CPCB regulates industrial VOC emissions. Neither maps directly onto the German AgBB emission scheme or DIBt-style national technical approval. IGBC and GRIHA accept emission-tested products against AgBB-equivalent criteria for indoor-air-quality credits — on the same basis BREEAM and LEED v4.1 do. LEINOS publishes the German test trail on every PDP because there is currently no Indian equivalent that would replace it on the spec sheet.
Verification
How to verify a LEINOS certification.
Three steps. (1) Request the product's TDS and SDS from the PDP download block. (2) For batch-specific reports (WESSLING food-contact, ift Rosenheim window-compatibility, EPH abrasion) request the dated report number from the LEINOS India team via the Get Expert Advice CTA. (3) For institutional standards (EN 71-3, DIN 68861, DIBt abZ), cross-check the cert on the issuing body's public listing — every authority URL on this page links to its source.
Voluntary vs Mandatory
Which kind of certification is which.
EU 2004/42/EC (VOC content), EN 71-3 (where the surface touches a child), EU 1935/2004 (food-contact safety) and LFGB §31 (German food-contact law) are mandatory — legally non-optional for products sold in the EU under the respective use case. DIBt abZ for indoor floor coatings is voluntary but conditional: not legally mandatory, but architects cannot specify a floor coating in a regulated habitable space without it. AgBB testing, Blauer Engel, EU Ecolabel and M1 are fully voluntary — they signal a higher standard than the floor.
Re-testing
Re-testing after formulation change.
Any formulation change — a new pigment supplier, a different metallic drier ratio, a switch in carnauba grade — requires re-testing of every cert that referenced the prior formulation. This is the brand-side discipline behind ISO 9001 quality-management plus the InVeNa full-disclosure pledge. If a competitor changes formulation silently and keeps a cert badge from the old recipe, the badge is dishonest. LEINOS publishes ingredient-list changes via the InVeNa member entry.
At a glance
Five anchors that travel together.
Disclosure Pledge
InVeNa
Full ingredient disclosure on every product.
Migration Standard
EN 71-3
Heavy-metal migration limit per toy-safety norm.
Food Contact
LFGB §31
German food-contact law — LEINOS 280, WESSLING cert CAL24-0568511.
Wood Technology
ihd Dresden
Independent German wood-technology institute.
Origin
Made in Germany
Formulated and manufactured in Horneburg since 1985.
Got Questions?
Specifier questions, answered.
Quick answers on formulation, application and Indian-climate suitability. Pulled from our full FAQ and TDS library.
- Yes — for the specific products LEINOS publishes a test report on. The strongest published evidence is for LEINOS 280 Countertop Oil, which carries a dated food-contact compliance certificate from WESSLING GmbH (report CAL24-0568511, valid through 29 July 2026) issued against §31 LFGB and EU Regulation 1935/2004 Article 3 — the EU framework for materials intended to contact food. The cured 280 film has been tested by a German-accredited food-chemist laboratory for migration of substances into food simulants, on a specified application (wood worktops, cutting boards), with a defined expiry date. Other LEINOS oils may carry similar reports — request the dated report number per product before specifying. (Project memory referencing "BfR XXXVI for food-contact wood" is a mis-attribution: BfR XXXVI scope is paper and board, not paint on wood.)
- EN 71-3 covers nineteen specified elements: aluminium, antimony, arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium (III), chromium (VI), cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, strontium, tin, organic tin and zinc. The test simulates ingestion: a defined material sample is held in artificial gastric acid (hydrochloric acid at 0.07 mol/L, 37 °C, 1 hour) and the extract is measured by ICP-MS or ICP-OES against migration limits in the standard. Three material categories apply — Category III (scraped-off material) is the one a wood-finish on a child's surface is tested as. EN 71-3 says nothing about organic toxicants, sensitisers, VOC emissions or mechanical hazards — those are covered by other parts of the EN 71 series and by separate standards.
- Neither, in the way the question is usually meant. BfR Recommendation XXXVI is a German recommendation, not a certification — and its scope is paper and paperboard for food contact, not paint coatings on wood. It is issued by the Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung as advice on which substances are acceptable in paper food-packaging materials under §31 LFGB. It is not a stamp a manufacturer applies for and it does not apply to wood finishes. The correct certification chain for a LEINOS food-contact wood oil runs through EU Regulation 1935/2004 (the EU framework), LFGB §31 (the German implementation), and a dated test report from an accredited German laboratory (e.g. WESSLING).
- The answer depends on the certification type. DIBt national technical approvals (abZ) are issued for a fixed period — typically five years — and renewable only after re-audit by the issuing body. Batch-specific food-contact reports (WESSLING for LEINOS 280) carry a stated expiry date on the certificate face: the WESSLING report cited on this page expires 29 July 2026. Type tests against EN 71-3 / DIN 68861 / DIN 53160 are not on a regulator-mandated schedule, but ISO 9001 quality-management requires re-testing on any formulation change. AgBB chamber tests are triggered whenever a DIBt approval is renewed. The line in practice: every cert has a useful life; the brand-side discipline that keeps cert claims honest is ISO 9001 plus the InVeNa full-disclosure pledge.
- There is no direct one-to-one mapping. India's Bureau of Indian Standards publishes IS 15489 for emulsion paints, and the CPCB regulates industrial VOC emissions — but no Indian standard currently equates to the German AgBB emission scheme or the DIBt abZ for floor coatings. Where Indian green-rating systems take over — IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) and GRIHA — emission-tested products against AgBB or equivalent are accepted for indoor-air-quality credits, on the same basis BREEAM and LEED v4.1 accept them. A LEINOS product carrying DIBt, ift Rosenheim or ihd Dresden documentation translates into points in those Indian rating systems. For non-rated public-sector tenders in India, the EU-side test trail is currently the strongest available; an Indian-side equivalent does not yet exist for natural-paint formulations.
- No, and any certificate that says it does should be read with suspicion. A test certificate is a measurement of a defined sample, on a defined date, against a defined method, for defined substances. EN 71-3 measures migration of nineteen specified elements — passing it tells you nothing about a substance not on the list. DIN 68861-1A tells you the surface survives 26 household chemicals; it tells you nothing about the wear-layer dust at year ten. Even a comprehensive AgBB chamber test ends at day 28 — it tells you the product is below the room threshold then, not over the building's lifetime. The honest reading: a stack of independent reports against tight, well-chosen methods is the strongest evidence available short of an in-situ measurement of the actual room. It documents the floor. It does not promise the ceiling. Documented, not claimed is the architecture of trust, not a substitute for it.