§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his Department's policy towards the relaunch of the European Communities ecolabel award system. [45324]
§ Angela EagleThe Government would like to see the Community's voluntary ecolabelling scheme make greater inroads within the European market. The existing scheme, launched in 1992, has unfortunately been slow to take off, at the same time as national labelling schemes have been developing more strongly in some member states. The European Commission has submitted a Proposal for revising the EC Regulation which set up the present scheme, but some important elements of this Proposal40W have not found general agreement. The UK Presidency has tabled a discussion of this subject at the Council of Ministers on 16/17 June, which it is hoped will point a way forward on the revision of the ecolabelling scheme, in the wider context of policy for improving the environmental performance of consumer products.