4.4 Relationship
The relationship of the interpretation phase to other phases of LCA is shown in Figure 1.
The goal and scope definition and interpretation phases of life cycle assessment frame the study, whereas the other phases of LCA (LCI and LCIA) produce information on the product system.
5 Identification of significant issues
5.1 Objective
NOTE See clause A.2 in annex A for examples.
The objective of this element is to structure the results from the LCI or LCIA phases in order to determine the significant issues, in accordance with the goal and scope definition and interactively with the evaluation element. The purpose of this interaction is to include the implications of the methods used, assumptions made, etc. in the preceding phases, such as allocation rules, cut-off decisions, selection of impact categories, category indicators and models, etc.
5.2 Identification and structuring of information
There are four types of information required from the findings of the preceding phases of the LCA or the LCI study:
a) the findings from the preceding phases (LCI and LCIA), which shall be assembled and structured together with information on data quality. These results should be structured in an appropriate manner, e.g. in accordance with the stages in the life cycle, the different processes or unit operations in the product system, transportation, energy supply and waste management. This may be in the form of data lists, tables, bar diagrams or other appropriate representation of the inputs and outputs and/or category indicators results. Therefore, all relevant results available at the time will be gathered and consolidated for further analysis;
b) methodological choices, such as allocation rules and product system boundaries from the LCI and category indicators and models used in LCIA;
c) the value-choices used in the study as found in the goal and scope definition;
d) the role and responsibilities of the different interested parties as found in the goal and scope definition in relation to the application, and also the results from a concurrent critical review process, if conducted.