§ Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domerasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any plans to establish a national ecolabelling scheme similar to the Blue Angel scheme in Germany. [HL3598]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)We have no plans to do so but we continue to support the development of the EU ecolabelling award scheme, which encourages greener product standards across the whole of the single market. We asked the Advisory Committee on Consumer Products and the Environment to examine the case for setting up a national scheme as well as part of its remit to look at the role of product information in driving up standards of environmental performance. The committee's advice (in its first report,Choosing Green) was that it would not be cost-effective to set up a national ecolabelling award scheme at this stage and that resources for improving product information could be applied more effectively on other initiatives. The Minister for the Environment has indicated to the chair of the committee, Dr Alan Knight, that these other options seem more promising at this stage, and should be examined further. The committee has been assisting with that further work.