The data quality of an LCI assesses whether different requirements are met taking into account the goal and scope. A systematic approach was developed that checks the data quality of a dataset against different user requirements. As an example this was applied to a data set from the European Reference Life Cycle Database [ELCD 3.0]. Here general requirements from the International Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) handbook and the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Guide were complemented by specific user needs. User requirements, data quality criteria and target states were defined. The actual state of the data was compared to the target and possible shortcomings were identified. From this a recommendation how to use or improve the dataset was deducted.

data quality assessment; LCI; user requirements; systematic approach