An increasing number of countries are seeing the advantages of products with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into indoor air. Regulations for reducing product emissions can only be found in Germany and France, but other European countries are expected to establish similar compulsory requirements soon, such as Belgium in 2014. The strongest driving force for low-emission products are markets where programs for sustainable buildings (such as LEED) and ecolabels are continuing to attract more and more users (e.g., EMICODE, GUT, Blue Angel, Indoor Air Comfort, Indoor Advantage).
Historically, Europe and the U.S. have followed different approaches for characterizing low-VOC products, even though the regulations share some common themes. These similarities include the following specifications: