Monday, April 20, 2009

Ecolabel is a labelling system

Ecolabel is a labelling system for consumer products that are made in a fashion that avoids detrimental effects on the environment. Usually both the precautionary principle and the substitution principle are used when defining the rules for what products can be ecolabelled. Many ecolabels are not directly connected to the firms that manufacture or sell the ecolabelled products. Just as for the quality assurance labelling systems it is of imperative importance that the labelling entity is clearly divided from and independent of the manufacturers. All ecolabelling is voluntary, meaning that they are not mandatory by law.



Ecolabelling systems exist for both food and consumer products. Both systems were started by NGOs but nowadays the European Union have legislation for the rules of ecolabelling and also have their own ecolabels, one for food and one for consumer products. At least for the food the ecolabel is nearly identical with the common NGO definition of the rules for ecolabelling. Many of the food ecolabels follow the recommendations from the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements that started in the 1970s.

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