Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme

Mr. Daniel Hájek

Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic


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

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - EUEB

COMMISSION DECISION 730/2000 of 10 November 2000 establishing the European Union Eco-labelling Board and its rules of procedure

Contains basic roles for EUEB


ROLE OF THE EUEB– request the Commission to initiate the procedure for setting

the ecological criteria as well as the related assessment and compliance verification requirements for product groups

– contribute to the setting and review of Eco-label criteria as well as the related assessment and compliance verification requirements for product groups

– be consulted by the Commission on the Community Eco-label working plan

– the members of the EUEB shall cooperate with the Member States and the Commission in promoting the use of the Community Eco-label.


COMPOSITION– The EUEB shall consist of the competent bodies– Amongst others, the following organisations,

representing the interested parties, shall be members of the EUEB:

Coface (consumers, representing also BEUC, Eurocoop and AEC),

EEB (environmental) ETUC (trade unions) UNICE (industry) UEAPME (SMEs, crafts) Eurocommerce (commerce)

– Each member of the EUEB shall designate a contact person


CHAIR, VICE-CHAIRS AND SECRETARIAT– The chair and the two vice-chairs of the EUEB shall be held in

turn by the EU Eco-label competent bodies– The chair shall firstly be held in turn by a competent body from

each Member State of the European Union, during the period of their presidency

– The two vice-chairs shall be held by the competent body that is next in line to hold the chair and the competent body that previously held the chair

– The competent body holding the chair or the vice-chairs may, exceptionally, be replaced by one of the vice-chairs or by another member of the EUEB


MEETINGS– Meetings of the EUEB shall be convened by the chair, who shall, with

the assistance of the vice-chairs and of the secretariat, be responsible for preparing and circulating the invitations, agendas and supporting papers, as well as drafting and circulating the corresponding minutes

– The Commission shall on request make a meeting room available should the meeting be scheduled to take place in Brussels

– In general no more than three representatives of a member of the EUEB should participate in a given meeting

– Representatives of the Member States of the European Union and of the European Economic Area may participate in the EUEB meetings. Representatives of the Commission shall participate in the EUEB meetings. The Chairperson or the Commission may, where appropriate, invite other interested parties to participate


OTHER ACTIONS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE EUEB The members of the EUEB shall act in the general interest of the

Community Eco-label Scheme, and may take any initiatives they consider pertinent and useful to this end. They may similarly act at the request of the Commission. Such initiatives may include, amongst others:

– promotional activities– the formation of ad hoc working groups,– actions to promote the harmonised application of Eco- label criteria and related

assessment and compliance verification requirements, including the regular adaptation and improvement of the related user manuals,

– drafting guidelines, for example to facilitate the development of ecological criteria,

– adopting internal procedures as appropriate

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme – Regulatory Committee

Representatives of Member states only

Regulatory committee takes a vote on final

draft criteria

Political decision

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - CB in MS

Each Member State (MS) shall ensure that the body or bodies, responsible for carrying out the tasks provided for in Regulation “1980“, is/are designated and operational. Where more than one competent body is designated, the MS shall determine those bodies' respective powers and the coordination requirements applicable to them

Member States shall ensure that:– the composition of the competent bodies is such as to guarantee

their independence and neutrality– the rules of procedure of the competent bodies ensure, at national

level, the active involvement of all interested parties and an appropriate level of transparency

– the competent bodies shall apply correctly the provisions of Regulation “1980“.

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - CBs in the Czech Rep.

Ministry of the Environment – 2-3 employees Czech Eco-labelling Agency – 2-3 employees:

(expert unit of CENIA - Czech Environmental Information Agency , established by the Ministry of the Environment and is receiving contributions from the state budget )

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - Ministry of the Environment

Guarantee the right to use the logo to specific

products

Expresses their opinion to all issues of development of

the Programme - Regulation Committee member

expresses its comments and suggestions to the

Program - cooperation with CB

Organizing awarding ceremony

Responsible for legislative support

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - Ministry of the Environment (award ceremony)

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - CENIA

to provide the applicants with applications together with the full wording of the relevant guideline

to register and handle applications for granting the right to use the logo, and to draw up summary report on the products to which the right to use the logo should be granted

to conclude license agreements with the applicants to collect registration and annual fees to recommend, to an applicant, the corresponding accredited

laboratory, testing institution or other special institution site-visits at the manufacturer, checking of compliance with

the conditions for granting the right to use the logo, according to requirements stated in the guidelines

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme – web site (www.ekoznacka.cz)

Promotional activities in photos

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - European commission

Guarantee of the Program

Expresses its opinions to all issues of development of the Programme and criteria in all stages

Provides a web site

Common expenses necessary for the meetings, developing and reviewing ecological criteria and other activities shall be met by the Commission

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme – The Flower web site

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - The Eco-label Helpdesk

The European Commission has awarded a contract to Bio Intelligence Service to assist the ongoing marketing and promotion efforts of the Commission and the various EUEB stakeholders (in particular the marketing management group).

The basic objectives of the EU Eco-label helpdesk are:– To provide interested parties (business, retailers, consumers etc, in

particular potential new Eco-label holders) with timely and accurate information concerning the EU Eco-label

– To host, maintain and further develop the newly installed Eco-label platform (www.eco-label.com)

– To assist and implement activities of the marketing management group of the EUEB

– To develop and carry out promotion activities for the EU Eco-label



Co-operation and Co-ordination Group Objective: Progressively co-ordinate product group development

in the different labelling schemes in the EU.– co-ordinate product group development (including reviewing existing

product groups and agreeing a far as possible on a common approach)

– examine possibilities of mutual recognition, and mutual fee reductions – develop harmonised DID list – develop joint marketing activities and information to consumers (on

common and complementary aims of the different labels, joint lists of all eco-label award holders and where their products can be found)


Marketing Management Group The group develops and implements joint marketing initiatives:

– Marketing Management Group meetings are organised with EUEB meetings

– CB sit together with all the interested EUEB stakeholders to discuss marketing initiatives

– the most important marketing activities are prepared for the Flower Campaign

– the Chair is an Italian Competent Body– also Eco-label helpdesk assists the group

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme – Standard contract

COMMISSION DECISION 729/2000 of 10 November 2000 on a standard contract covering the terms of use of the Community Eco-label

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme – Standard contract

It specifies: – rights and obligations of a holder, – conditions of advertising and the compliance monitoring, – conditions on the confidentiality of information gained by the

Competent Body, – conditions on suspension and withdrawal of the authorisation

of the Flower logo, and on limitation aspects of liability and indemnity,

– fees, complaints, contract duration and applicable law.

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme – FEES

COMMISSION DECISION (EC) 728/2000 of 10 November 2000 establishing the application and annual fees of the Community Eco-label

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme - GPP

The EU Eco-label criteria take into account the main environmental impacts of a product and the technically possible improvements

Purchasers can easily check if companies are able to meet technical requirements

Purchasers are sure of using a scheme that is fully compatible with the Internal Market principles


Thank you for your attention

Daniel Hájek

Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic

Department of Environmental Policy

e-mail: [email protected]

tel.: +420 267 122 489

Documents

Administrative structure of the EU Eco-label Award Scheme