General

Strengthened EU ecolabelling rules to enter force

…fresh from the ENDS Europe DAILY (01/02/10)

Rules improving and strengthening the EU’s ecolabelling scheme will enter force on 19 February following their publication in the bloc’s official journal on Saturday. Member states and MEPs reached an agreement on the revised rules in April.

The revised rules include higher environmental standards for products and services carrying the Flower label. For example, products containing substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction should not bear the EU label.

The ecolabelling regulation also includes lower fees for companies and faster criteria development and revision procedures. It also calls for a feasibility study on the development of environmental criteria for food and drink products.

The European Commission aims to increase the number of product groups covered by the scheme to between 40 and 50 by 2015. The scheme currently applies to 26 categories ranging from cleaning products to textiles.

Last month, the EU published first-ever environmental criteria for awarding the label to manufacturers of wooden floor coverings. Plans to revise criteria for copying and graphic paper have been strongly criticised by green and consumer groups.

Tags: ecolabelling, EU