Commission staff working document accompanying the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Community Ecolabel scheme - Summary of the impact assessment {COM(2008) 401 final} {SEC(2008) 2118}
Date: 2008-07-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU market, European standard, consumer information, eco-label, environmental protection, goods and services, quality label

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 16.7.2008 
SEC(2008) 2119 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

accompanying the 

Proposal for a  

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on a Community Ecolabel scheme 

SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

{COM(2008) 401 final} 
{SEC(2008) 2118} 

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Executive Summary 

According to Article 20 of the Ecolabel Regulation1, the EU Ecolabel scheme, which has been 
in  place  since  1992,  has  to  be  reviewed  and  the  Commission  must  then  propose  any 
appropriate amendments to the Regulation. 

The  overall  objectives  of  the  scheme  are  to  encourage  the  sustainable  production  and 
consumption  of  products,  and  the  sustainable  provision  and  use  of  services,  by  setting 
benchmarks  for  good  environmental  performance.  By  guiding  consumers  towards  them,  the 
Ecolabel  should  promote  those  products  and  services  that  have  met  these  benchmarks 
compared to others in the same category. The Ecolabel scheme also needs to be usable as an 
integral  and  effective  part  of  the  wider  Sustainable  Consumption  and  Production  policy 
framework of the European Commission, linking well with other instruments, such as Green 
Public  Procurement  (GPP),  the  Eco-Management  and  Audit  Scheme  (EMAS)  and  the  Eco-
design Directive. 

The Ecolabel review and impact assessment process began in February 2002, with the launch 
of  a  large-scale  evaluation  study  on  Ecolabel2.  In  addition  to  the  review,  a  number  of 
stakeholder consultations have taken place, culminating in a public internet consultation at the 
beginning of 2006, the results of which indicated strongly the need for significant changes to 
be made to the Ecolabel Regulation. The impact assessment shows that the current scheme is 
unable to achieve its objectives as it suffers from low awareness of the label and low uptake 
by 
industry  resulting  amongst  others  from  excessively  bureaucratic  processes  and 
management.  

Three  main  or  macro-options  are  considered  in  this  impact  assessment:  continuing  with  the 
present approach; phasing out the scheme; or making modifications to the scheme. Within the 
last  option  a  number  of  micro-options  are  analysed  and  then  considered  as  a  package  of 
measures representing the best modifications of the scheme. Following the analysis of impacts 
this last option has been chosen. The following package of measures is therefore proposed for 
the modification and simplification of the scheme: 

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Design Regulation to better fit into the other sustainable production and consumption 
actions of the Commission; 

Open up the scope of the label; 

Introduce  measures  to  encourage  harmonisation  with  other  eco-labelling  schemes: 
EU Ecolabel criteria as a standard for other eco-labels; fast track procedure to adopt 
criteria developed by national ecolabel schemes; 

More product groups / quicker criteria development; 

Introduce a template for criteria documents to ensure they are more user friendly; 

Incorporate guidance for Green Public Purchasing into criteria development; 

Simplification  of  the  assessment  and  verification  procedures  and  abolition  of  the 
annual fee; 

Peer review for Competent Bodies; 

Regulation  (EC)  No  1980/2000  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  17  July  2000  on  a 
revised Community eco-label award scheme 
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/pdf/regulation/001980_en.pdf) 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/revision_en.htm 

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Boost marketing. 

It can be expected that this modification and simplification of the scheme will lead, on the one 
hand to a considerable increase in companies using the label, therefore also to an increase in 
Ecolabelled products on the market and, on the other hand, to an  increase in the number of 
consumers  that  know  about,  and  are  prepared  to  buy,  Ecolabelled  products  as  well  as  to  an 
increase in the use of EU Ecolabel criteria in public procurement. The Ecolabel will be better 
tailored to policy makers, particularly within the framework of the Sustainable Consumption 
and  Production  Action  Plan,  and  will  be  a  useful  benchmark  and  information  tool  on  the 
environmental performance of products and services. 

The  economic  and  environmental  impacts  of  the  scheme  will  depend  on  the  Ecolabel's 
success and this will in turn depend, amongst other factors, on how well it co-ordinates with 
other  policy  instruments  aiming  at  promoting  innovation  in  the  life-cycle  environmental 
performance of products. Forthcoming Commission actions on Sustainable Consumption and 
Production will examine ways to use a range of product policy instruments in a coherent and 
co-ordinated way to maximise their effect as a whole in driving both innovation and sales of 
better performing products. As the Ecolabel is part of this package of instruments, its impact 
will need to be judged as part of it. 

This  impact  assessment  concludes  that,  as  a  voluntary  instrument,  a  modified  Ecolabel  can 
have  net  economic  benefits  for  the  EU  economy,  and  increase  both  competition  and 
competitiveness.  The  Ecolabel  therefore  works  with  the  market  and  –  with  its  simplified 
approach – is a model "better regulation" policy instrument. 

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