The European Union has revised its environmental label to expand its scope and increase transparency
On October 26, 2009, the Council of Ministers of the European Union adopted new regulations to amend the Ecolabelling scheme, which currently covers textiles, footwear and electrical appliances, and expand its scope to other products.
The Ecolabel program began in 1992 and was revised in 2000, aiming to establish an ecolabel awarding system for products that help reduce environmental damage.
The EU's revised regulations aim to enhance the effectiveness of the ecolabel and expand its market impact. This will be achieved by increasing the number of eligible product categories, providing consumers with more ecolabeled goods and services, and establishing a streamlined process for developing and assessing ecolabel award criteria. Furthermore, the revised regulations may reduce annual program fees, simplify the label assessment process, and focus on addressing products with the greatest environmental impact.
When developing its Ecolabel awarding criteria, the European Commission considered not only environmental performance (climate impact, energy and resource consumption) but also the product's environmental impact throughout its entire life cycle and regulations on reducing animal testing. Other revisions included linking the Ecolabel program to other sustainable production and consumption initiatives, such as integrating the Ecolabel awarding criteria into the Ecodesign program (listed in Ecodesign Directive 2005/32/EC), and/or using the criteria as a guide for developing future standards, compelling companies to comply with Ecolabel standards.
Another objective of the revised regulations is to cultivate consumer environmental awareness, encourage the purchase of more sustainable and environmentally friendly products, and encourage manufacturers to produce products that exceed mandatory standards. The Ecolabel program has also been expanded, aiming to cover up to 40 to 50 product categories by 2015 and ensure that more products awarded the EU Ecolabel are available in stores. Furthermore, processed foods and animal feed may be added to the Ecolabel product list. The European Commission is also considering whether to issue the Ecolabel only to organic foods.
Products not included in the revised regulations include medical and veterinary products, as well as products containing toxic, mutagenic, or environmentally harmful substances.
The aforementioned regulations have not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. However, the draft regulations can be viewed on the following webpage:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/about_ecolabel/pdf/ep_proposal.pdf
Information regarding environmental labels can be found on this website:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/ecolabelled_products/application_procedure_en.htm
– Reference source: Hong Kong Trade Development Council website, 2009-12-3
