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Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 on the EU Ecolabel was published in the Official Journal on 30 January. The new Regulation comes into force on 19 February 2010 and by 19 February 2011, the Commission and the EU Eco-labelling Board must agree on a working plan including a strategy and non-exhaustive list of product groups.
The new Regulation bans products containing substances or preparations which are toxic, hazardous to the environment, carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, although article 7 does provide for some derogations to be made.
There have recently been calls to include food as a potential product for eco-labelling. The new Regulation requires the Commission to undertake a study, to be completed by 31 December 2011, to investigate the feasibility of establishing reliable criteria covering environmental performance during the life cycle of such products, including products of fishing and aquaculture. Only after this will the Commission decide which groups of food products, if any, should be included in the scheme.
Application and annual fees for the scheme are set out in an Annex to the Regulation. SMEs and micro-enterprises will now pay lower fees, to encourage them to apply for the label.
05 February 2010
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