Regulation No. 261 concerning the Approval of the Procedure for Issuing Estonian Ecolabels

Approval of the Procedure for Issuing Estonian Eco-labels Regulation No. 261 of 30 December 1997 of the Government of the Republic of Estonia Pursuant to subsection 9(3) of the Packaging Act (RT I 1995, 47, 739; 1997, 53,836), the Government of the Republic of Estonia hereby establishes: to approve “Procedure for Issuing Estonian Eco-labels” (attached). Mart Siimann, Prime Minister Villu Reiljan, Minister of Environment Uno Veering, State Secretary Approved by Regulation No. 261 of 30 December 1997 of the Government of the Republic of Estonia Procedure for Issuing Estonian Eco-labels 1. The Estonian eco-label (hereinafter the eco-label) shall mean a label issued by the Estonian Eco-label Committee to environmentally sound products on the basis of voluntary applications, thus making it possible to distinguish these products from other products used for the same purpose but having a stronger negative impact on the environment. 2. For the purpose of this Procedure, products shall mean movable goods or their packaging manufactured for consumption, resale or use in a production process by any other party. 3. Eco-labels shall be issued: 1. to encourage the design, manufacture, marketing and use of products which during their life cycle (starting from the choice of raw materials through manufacturing of products up to their disposal as waste) have a minimum negative impact on the environment; 2. to assist consumers in making choices among the products manufactured for the same purpose but having a different impact on the environment by providing accurate and unfalsifiable information attesting the environmentally sound properties of products; 3. to lead both manufacturing and consumption patterns towards sustainable development by giving an impetus to a more rational use of raw materials and to energy efficiency, and by reducing the volumes of waste at the site and moment of their generation. 1. Eco-labels shall be issued to products which contribute to attainment of the objectives referred to in clause 3 of this Procedure and meet the established environmental protection, health protection and safety requirements and whose environmentally sound properties have not been achieved at the expense of the quality properties of these products. 2. Eco-labels may be issued to products which are either produced in, or imported into, Estonia. When considering issuance of eco-labels to imported products, the results of applying for eco-labels for similar products in other countries may be taken into account if these results are reliably certified and meet the requirements established in Estonia. 3. Eco-labels shall not be issued to foodstuffs or medicines; however they may be issued to the packaging of foodstuffs or medicines if the properties of the packaging are environmentally more sound than those of other similar packaging. 4. Criteria for issuing eco-labels (hereinafter the criteria) shall be elaborated by the Ministry of the Environment separately for each individual product group. The criteria shall be elaborated on the basis of reference figures established by the Minister of Environment pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) of section 10 of the Sustainable Development Act (RT I 1995, 31, 384; 1997, 48, 772). Product groups shall be selected and defined in such a manner that products used for the same purpose and competing in the same sphere of use are included in the same product group. 5. The criteria shall be based on a scientifically substantiated, sufficiently elaborated methodology which yields explicit, accurate, objective and reproducible results. Where possible, development of the criteria for eco-labels shall be based on considerations derived from the assessment of the entire life cycle of the product. 6. In principle, the criteria must ensure that environmentally sound properties of products are continuously improved by encouraging the application of low-waste, low-energy and clean technological production processes, the use of secondary raw materials, reuse of products or parts thereof, and attainment of the longest possible service life of products. 7. The criteria established for a product group shall be reviewed every three years. In updating the criteria, the share of eco-labelled products in the Estonian market shall be taken into account in addition to the principles referred to in clause 9 of this Procedure in order to achieve improvement of environmentally sound properties of the entire product group by applying increasingly stringent requirements. 8. Eco-labels shall be issued by the Estonian Eco-label Committee (hereinafter the Committee) whose working procedure shall be established by the Minister of Environment. The Committee shall select the priority product groups taking account of the proposals submitted by manufacturers, importers and other stakeholders, and shall forward the list of priority product groups to the Ministry of the Environment. 9. The Committee shall consist of up to 10 members representing the administrative authorities concerned, scientific institutions, higher educational establishments, non profit associations and other organisations concerned. The members of the Committee shall be appointed by a decree of the Minister of Environment for the term of three years. Every three years, at least 30% of the members of the Commission shall be replaced. 10. An application for obtaining an eco-label for a product shall be submitted by the manufacturer or importer of the product, who shall also submit all documents required for making the decision, including the results of analyses and tests. An applicant for eco label shall bear all costs related to the procedure of reviewing the application, use of expert services and analyses and tests requested. 11. The Commission shall assess the impact of the product to the environment and to human health in accordance with the principles established by clauses 4 – 9 of this Procedure. In performing a comprehensive and concise assessment of the environmentally sound properties of the product, the Committee shall use the parameters and matrix presented in Annex 1 to this Procedure. 12. The Committee shall take a motivated decision on issuance or refusal of the eco-label within 30 calendar days of receipt of the application. The Committee has the right to request, when necessary, additional data from the applicant or arrange additional tests and analyses at the expense of the applicant. The request for additional data shall be communicated to the applicant within 15 calendar days of receipt of the application. The Committee shall make a decision within 30 calendar days of receipt of additional data. The decision of the Committee shall be approved by the Minister of Environment, whose decision is final. 13. The Committee has the right to involve independent experts of the relevant fields in the work of the Committee as appropriate; in choosing such experts the motivated arguments of the applicant concerning the protection of know-how and commercial secret shall be taken account of. The Committee and the experts involved must ensure the secrecy of the know-how and commercial information coming to their knowledge in the course of reviewing and evaluating applications, and shall not divulge such information to third parties. 14. Data on eco-labelled products and on enterprises applying for, and using, an eco-label are filed in the Register of the Estonian Eco-label, which will be established by the Minister of Environment in accordance with sections 38 – 41 of the Databases Act (RT I 1997, 28,423). 15. Upon issuance of the eco-label, an authorised representative of the Minister of Environment concludes a fixed-term contract with the former applicant on the use of the eco-label. The contract shall provide the dates of effect and expiry of, and the conditions for, the right to use the eco-label. The term for the right to use an eco-label must not expire later than the term of validity of the criterion which the issuance of the eco-label is based on. 16. The contract grants the user of eco-label the right to use the eco-label’s logo on the product, packaging of the product, in documents accompanying the product and in advertising the product during the term of validity of the contract. The logo may be coloured or black-and-white. The logo must be accompanied with a note explaining which environmentally sound properties the eco-label has been issued to. The logo and its description are presented in Annex 2 to this Procedure. 17. A party who has been issued an eco-label may use the eco-label only for advertising the product which the eco-label has been issued to. References to the user of eco-label or to other products of the user of eco-label are prohibited. 18. In the case of disputes between the Committee and the user of eco-label, such shall be solved by means of negotiations. If the negotiations do not lead to satisfactory results, each party may apply to the Minister of Environment for solving the issue; the Minister of Environment shall make a decision within 30 calendar days of the date of receipt of a written application. 19. The Ministry of the Environment and the Committee are required to publish on regular basis the information and explanations concerning the following issues related to eco labels: 1. objectives and principles of issuing eco-labels; 2. product groups; 3. terms for issuing eco-labels by product groups; 4. procedure for issuing eco-labels; 5. composition and mandate of the Estonian Eco-label Committee; 6. products for which eco-labels have been issued; manufacturers or importers of such products; grounds for issuing and terms of validity of eco-labels. Minister of Environment Villu Reiljan Annex 1 to “Procedure for Issuing Estonian Eco-labels” Matrix for Comprehensive Assessment Criteria Environmental aspects Life cycle of the product Raw material Manufacturing Marketing (including packaging) Use Disposal Generation of waste Soil pollution and degradation Water pollution Air pollution Noise and radiation Energy consumption Consumption of natural resources Impact on eco systems Content of dangerous substances Annex 2 to “Procedure for Issuing Estonian Eco-labels” Logo of the Estonian Eco-label The logo of the Estonian eco-label depicts a stylised common swallow against the background of the sky. The stripes in front of the swallow symbolise the polluted environment. The blue background behind the swallow, with the words “PUHAS KESKKOND” (CLEAN ENVIRONMENT) in its centre, refers to the main objective of the use of the eco-label. In the upper part of the logo there are the words “EESTI ÖKOMÄRGIS” (ESTONIAN ECO-LABEL) and in the lower part, in smaller font “ESTONIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LABEL”. The dimensions of the logo must not be smaller than 20 x 22 mm. The colour of the text and the swallow is black; the word “KESKKOND” (ENVIRONMENT), the stripes and background - blue. The shade of blue in CMYK system is pantone process blue (C:100, M:9, Y:0, K:6). Figure of the logo