Ecolabel Discontinued for Imaging Equipment

The EU Eco-label, a voluntary label that references products’ environment contribution, has been discontinued. Products such as imaging equipment (IE) as well as other products with limited uptake are to be affected by this decision.

The EU Ecolabel is an easily recognizable brand that allows consumers to easily identify which products are simultaneously high quality and environmentally friendly. It has built up a credible and trustworthy reputation as a badge for environmental excellence and aims to only credit the top 10-20% best performing products.

Along with the EU Ecolabel Scheme, the Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), an instrument for companies to evaluate and improve on their own environmental performance, is also under evaluation by the European Commission.

The review, which was completed June 2017, determined “that implementation must improve to reach full potential as circular economy tools.” Indeed, plans have been outlined to improve the focus of the EU Ecolabel scheme which in turn will boost the effectivity.

New strategies include bundling closely related product groups when they come up for renewal, reinforcing communication, reducing administrative costs, and improving consistency between the EU Ecolabel and national/regional labels.

The criteria for the new label will take effect after the current EU IE Eco-label criteria expires in December 2017.