Webinar: Nordic standards and adhesive compliance
Across the Nordic region, sustainability requirements are moving faster than in most of Europe. For manufacturers in automotive, construction and industrial equipment, that pressure is increasingly landing on material specifications including adhesives.
VOC limits and indoor air quality standards like M1, EC1+, and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel are shaping what goes into products and how they're assembled. For many teams, adhesives have moved from an afterthought to a variable that needs active management.
What's actually changing
The regulatory shift in the Nordics isn't just about tighter limits. It's about direction. REACH enforcement is intensifying and regulations across Sweden, Denmark and Norway are all increasing transparency requirements. Customers in the region are increasingly requesting full documentation: SDS, LCA data and certification readiness as standard.
For adhesive users, the practical implication is this: solvent-based systems that were compliant five years ago may no longer be, or require more documentation to prove they do.
Where adhesives fit into the compliance picture
Adhesives are a small part of most assemblies by weight, but a disproportionate contributor to VOC emissions and indoor air quality risk. In closed environments like automotive interiors, HVAC components and acoustic panels, the emissions profile of an adhesive can determine whether a finished product qualifies for certification or not.
Solvent-free PSA tapes address this directly. Solvent-free PSA tapes address this directly. They significantly reduce compliance risk without requiring process overhauls. They also eliminate curing time, reduce application variability and support cleaner end-of-life handling.
Making the transition practical
The business case for switching isn't just regulatory. Manufacturers who have moved to solvent-free acrylic systems report measurable gains in process consistency and throughput. For procurement teams under pressure to demonstrate sustainability progress, that's an auditable improvement. For procurement teams under pressure to demonstrate sustainability progress, that's an auditable improvement. The transition requires upfront evaluation. Substrate compatibility, application conditions and performance requirements all need to be mapped. But for most standard industrial applications, solvent-free alternatives exist that meet or exceed the performance of the systems they replace.
Watch the full session
We covered this topic in depth in our recent webinar: the regulatory landscape, the application implications and the decision criteria for transitioning to solvent-free systems.
About the author
Rachel Jacobs
Product Manager PT EMEA, Medical Tapes
Rachel has been part of Avery Dennison since 2011, building expertise across customer service, sales coordination and product management, all from the Medical tapes site in Turnhout, Belgium. She holds a Master's in Multilingual Communication (magna cum laude), which comes in handy when teaming up with customers, R&D and cross-functional partners to manage the full Medical tapes portfolio for Performance Tapes Europe.
rachel.jacobs@eu.averydennison.com
www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-peeters-jacobs