An increasing number of consumers are translating their concern for wider environmental problems into changes of their purchasing behaviour. The increasing green consumerism, especially in developed countries, has promoted their governments to bring in environment-related guidelines that will regulate trade. Any product which is made, used or disposed off in a way, that significantly reduces the harm, it would have otherwise caused to the environment, can be termed as eco-friendly product. Thus, it involves a complete life cycle assessment of the product, right from its raw material extraction stage, manufacture, and use to the final disposal with regard to its impact of environment. In other words, it is a claim which indicates the environmental aspects of a product or service.
Environmental labels operate as informative and voluntary market instruments.
While, there is a need for greater transparency, voluntary ecolabelling schemes should not be brought under the scope of the technical barriers to trade agreement. As ecolabelling is featuring as a contentious issue in international trade, the Indian industry needs to gear itself to meet the new challenges. Accrecitation and prevailing laws of individual countries may at time act as barriers for international trade. To eliminate such detrimental features in the scheme, it is made amply clear that the ecolabelling scheme in India is a purely voluntary scheme open to all manufactures, both domestic and foreign. The scheme intends to encourage manufacture and use of products which are less harmful or have minimum adverse impact on the environment and ultimately, to improve the quality of environment by encouraging sustainable management of resources.