Revised community eco-label award scheme (regul. 880/92/EEC)

The committee adopted the recommendation for second reading (codecision procedure) by Horst SCHNELLHARDT (EPP/ED, D) amending the Council's common position on a revised Community Eco-Label Award Scheme. The committee noted that the Council had included most of the important Parliament amendments in its common position, such as a widening of the scope of the eco-label to include services and the setting up of a European Union Eco-Labelling Board (EUEB). The Council had also introduced an important new provision, namely, the establishment of a working plan for developing the eco-labelling scheme, which the committee welcomed as a key element in the proposal. The committee adopted an amendment demanding that the working plan take particular account of the development of joint actions to promote products awarded the eco-label. Another amendment stipulated that, if a product was entitled to carry both the Community eco-label and a national label, the two logos should be displayed side by side on the product, the aim being to ensure that full account was taken of the European label at national level and avoid preferential treatment for national labelling schemes at the expense of the Community label. Lastly, the committee adopted an amendment on the issue of fees, stressing that costs must be kept to a strict minimum so as not to deter SMEs from taking part in the Community eco-label scheme. �