EU Ecolabel

EU Ecolabel is a voluntary ecolabel scheme established in 1992 by the European Commission to encourage business to market products and services that meet high standards of environmental performance and quality. The EU Ecolabel helps to identify products and services that have a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle, from the extraction of raw material through to production, use and disposal. The label includes a green plant with inclined green "ϵ" (Greek epsilon) as the flower, surrounded by 12 blue stars.

EU Ecolabel is the only pan-European Type 1 official ecolabel, providing a suitable tool for EU Ecolabel licence holders channel their marketing through a single label. In Nordic countries — Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland — both the Nordic Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel are official.[1] In a 2013 survey, Denmark was shown to be the top country in Europe where consumers recognise the EU Ecolabel and know what it stands for, with 35% of consumers recognising it visually and 17% of consumers knowing its meaning.[2] The implementation of the EU Ecolabel is set through the Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council.[3] Its management is carried out by the European Commission together with Competent Bodies appointed in each European Economic Area Member State, to administer the award of the EU Ecolabel at national level. The EU Ecolabel is awarded according to ecological criteria set by experts, industry, consumer organisations and environmental NGOs at European level.

EU Ecolabel criteria has been formulated for more than 30 non-food and non-medical product groups[4] that are reviewed every 3–5 years.

The EU Ecolabel is part of a broader EU Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production[5] and Sustainable Industrial Policy adopted by the European Commission on 16 July 2008,[6] which also links the EU Ecolabel to other EU policies such as Green Public Procurement (GPP) and Ecodesign of Energy using Products.[7]

History

The EU Ecolabel was established in 1992.

In early 1990s, the US, Canada and several other countries criticized the EU Ecolabel's product life-cycle analysis scheme, extra emphasis on usage of recycled materials by the products, and lack of transparency. EU Ecolabel had responded by adjustment of its assessment standards in 1996.[8] Some decisions by EU Ecolabel, such as ban on imports of seal skins, furs caught using leg-hold traps, and Malaysian food, were criticized for their supportive nature of local European industry and allegedly unfairly putting foreign product makers at disadvantage.[8] Similar trade barrier concerns were raised by US package goods industry in 1996.[9]

Its most recent revision entered in force in February 2010. Some of the goals were to provide for a more rapid criteria development for specific product categories, to harmonise the EU Ecolabel with other ecolabels and to minimize the costs of the process, as well as to simplify the application procedure.

References

  1. ↑ Nordic Council of Ministers (2012). The Nordic Ecolabel 2015: Synergies With Other Information Systems. p. 124. ISBN 9789289323871.
  2. ↑ The Potential for Green Textile Sourcing from Tirupur: On the Path to More Sustainable Global Textile Chains. Nordic Council of Ministers, 2013. p. 28. ISBN 9789289325592.
  3. ↑ "Regulation (EC) No 66/2010". Eur-Lex.
  4. ↑ "Product groups and criteria". European Commission.
  5. ↑ "Sustainable Development - Environment". European Commission.
  6. ↑ "COM(2008) 397". Eur-Lex.
  7. ↑ "Eco-design of Energy-Related Products". European Commission.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Global Competition and EU Environmental Policy. Routledge, 2013. 2013. p. 18. ISBN 9781134729517.
  9. ↑ University of Minnesota (1996). Conference Proceedings: November 13-14, 1996, Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City, USA. Miller Freeman,Incorporated.

External links