First measures to combatgreen wash‘ or green face wash applied by many companiesboth large and small, to reveal ecological qualities that they don’t really have. The European Commission has presented a legislative proposal aimed at putting an end to ‘ecopostureo’. in confusing, vague or mislabeling of certain products that show seals with so-called environmental certifications but are not supported by scientific and transparent criteria.
“We want to do everything we can to limit the environmental impact of our consumption choices, but being ecological is not easy,” European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius complained at a press conference.
The European Commission has identified 230 different “eco-labels” presenting the environmental characteristics of products in the EU, and its detailed analysis, 53.3% of these alleged features are vague, confusing, or unfounded, and 40% contain statements with no reliable basis to support them.
These are phrases such as “Made from 30% recycled plastic”, “We are committed to reducing our CO2 emissions” or “bee-friendly juice”.
Community Manager to fix this trend if you want to apply more control and transparency to these tags that some manufacturers use voluntarily to promote their products.
The goal is to “protect consumers, but also protect businesses” that have been harmed by rival companies using questionable environmental slogans.Specify community resources.
Therefore, and only with regard to voluntary declarations of certain properties, Brussels proposes to introduce common rules, without including any new mandatory labeling system.
For example, no product will be allowed to show an “total score” based on different environmental criteriabecause sharpness is lost in real photo.
In addition, if some products are to be compared with other products according to their environmental performance, it will be mandatory to support them with “equivalent information and data”.
Edit existing green tag wave
To avoid the proliferation of labels, new public systems at national level will not be permitted unless they can be demonstrated to provide “added value” at local level, beyond the 230 currently available, according to a harmonized standard at European level.
The European Commission makes it available to Member States to develop European standards at the request of the Twenty-Seven.
“Any new custom scheme will show greater environmental ambition than existing ones and will need prior approval to be allowed.” The Commission attaches it to its proposal.
In any case, environmental label schemes will need to be “trusted, transparent, independently verified and regularly reviewed”He adds that the European Commission and consumer defense organizations will have the power to take legal action against manufacturers who do not comply with these labeling rules.
“We do not ban any of the existing programs” European sources describe it by explaining that the directive aims to shed light on which companies are putting these labels on the market, what criteria they follow, and whether they are based on sound and scientific data.
“Green claims are everywhere: ocean-friendly t-shirts, zero-carbon bananas, bee-friendly juices… Unfortunately, cOften these claims are made without evidence or justification.”In a statement, the European Commission regrets the Green Deal’s Vice-President Frans Timmermans.
The proposed new regulation, which will have to be negotiated with the European Parliament and Member States, builds on the Commission’s Consumer Rights Directive last year and imposes an obligation on manufacturers to prevent products from containing misleading information about their social or environmental impact. product.
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Contact details of the environment department: [email protected]