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Ecolabelling
Ecolabels (also "eco-Labels") and Green Stickers are labeling systems for food and consumer products. The use of ecolabels is voluntary, whereas green stickers are mandated by law; for example, in North America major appliances and automobiles use Energy Star. There are currently 456 eco-labels in 199 countries, across 25 industry sectors according Ecolabel Index, the largest global directory of eco-labels. They are a form of sustainability measurement directed at consumers, intended to make it easy to take environmental concerns into account when shopping. Some labels quantify pollution or energy consumption by way of index scores or units of measurement, while others assert compliance with a set of practices or minimum requirements for sustainability or reduction of harm to the environment. Many ecolabels are focused on minimising the negative ecological impacts of primary production or resource extraction in a given sector or commodity through a set of good practices that are c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Angel (certification)
The Blue Angel is an environmental label in Germany that has been awarded to particularly environmentally friendly products and services since 1978. The owner of the label is the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. History The Blue Angel is the ecolabel of the West German government and was introduced in 1978 by the Federal Minister of the Interior, which was a person of the Free Democratic Party (Germany) (FDP) in these years. This ministry was also responsible for environmental protection at the time, and the responsible ministers in the German federal states. It was established with the aim of highlighting more environmentally friendly and healthy developments and alternatives in areas where standard products have a negative impact on the environment. Suppliers can label their products and services with the environmental label on a voluntary basis and provide interested customers with guidance as a result. The Blue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nordic Swan
The Nordic Ecolabel or Nordic swan is the official sustainability ecolabel for products from the Nordic countries. It was introduced by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1989. The logo is based on the flag of the Nordic Council, logo of the Nordic Council adopted in 1984 which symbolises trust, integrity and freedom. The Nordic Swan covers 67 different product groups, from hand soap to furniture to hotels. The Nordic Swan is a voluntary license system in which the applicant agrees to follow criteria set outlined by the Nordic Ecolabelling. These criteria include Natural environment, environmental, quality and health arguments. The criteria levels promote products and services belonging to the most environmentally sound and take into account factors such as free trade and proportionality (cost vs. benefits). Companies using the Nordic Swan label for their products must verify compliance, using samples from independent laboratories, certificates and control visits. The label is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy Star
Energy Star (trademarked ENERGY STAR) is an Efficient energy use, energy-efficiency program established in 1992. It is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The EPA establishes energy efficiency specifications, and those that meet these specifications are eligible to display the ENERGY STAR logo. More than 75 product categories are eligible for the ENERGY STAR label, including appliances, electronics, lighting, heating and cooling systems, and commercial equipment such as food service products. In the United States, the ENERGY STAR label often appears with the EnergyGuide label of eligible appliances to highlight energy-efficient products and compare energy use and operating costs. One of the most successful voluntary initiatives introduced by the U.S. government, the program has saved 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity, more than US$500 billion in energy costs, and prevented 4 billion metric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EU Ecolabel
EU Ecolabel or EU Flower is a voluntary ecolabel scheme established in 1992 by the European Union. Logo The label includes a green flower with inclined green "ϵ" (epsilon, Greek epsilon) as the flower, surrounded by 12 blue stars. On EU Ecolabelled products, it must always be used together with the license number. Because of the logo, the label has a nickname ''EU Flower''. Governance The implementation of the EU Ecolabel is set through Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Its management is carried out by the European Commission and the national competent bodies. There is a competent body in each European Economic Area member state. The EU Ecolabel is part of a broader EU Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy adopted by the European Commission on 16 July 2008, which also links the EU Ecolabel to other EU policies such as Procurement#Green public procurement, green public procurement (GPP) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classification Of Eco Labels
Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identifying spam emails and deciding whether to give someone a driving license. As well as 'category', synonyms or near-synonyms for 'class' include 'type', 'species', 'order', 'concept', 'taxon', 'group', 'identification' and 'division'. The meaning of the word 'classification' (and its synonyms) may take on one of several related meanings. It may encompass both classification and the creation of classes, as for example in 'the task of categorizing pages in Wikipedia'; this overall activity is listed under taxonomy. It may refer exclusively to the underlying scheme of classes (which otherwise may be called a taxonomy). Or it may refer to the label given to an object by the classifier. Classification is a part of many different kinds of activ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Agreement On Trade In Services
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides such a system for merchandise trade. All members of the WTO are parties to the GATS. The basic WTO principle of most favoured nation (MFN) applies to GATS as well. However, upon accession, members may introduce temporary exemptions to this rule. The agreement aims to recognize the increasing importance of service trade for the growth and development of the global economy and to create a multilateral framework of principles and rules for trading services. The expansion of such trade is expected to be facilitated by market transparency and the progressive liberalization, promoting economic growth of all trading partners and particularly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its preamble, its purpose was the "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis". The GATT was first discussed during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization (ITO). It was signed by 23 nations in Geneva on 30 October 1947, and was applied on a provisional basis 1 January 1948. It remained in effect until 1 January 1995, when the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established after agreement by 123 nations in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994, as part of the Uruguay Round Agreements. The WTO is the successor to the GATT, and the origin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade in cooperation with the United Nations System. The WTO is the world's largest international economic organization, with 166 members representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP. The WTO facilitates trade in goods, trade in services, services and intellectual property among participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements, which usually aim to reduce or eliminate tariffs, Import quota, quotas, and other Trade barrier, restrictions; these agreements are signed by representatives of member governments. (The document's printed folio numbers do not match the PDF page numbers.) and ratified by their legislatures. It also administers independent dispute resolution for enforcing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for Quality (business), quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet customer and other Stakeholder (corporate), stakeholder needs within the statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. The standards were designed to fit into an integrated management system. The ISO refers to the set of standards as a "family", bringing together the standard for quality management systems and a set of "supporting standards", and their presentation as a family facilitates their integrated application within an organisation. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals and vocabulary of QMS, including the seven quality management principles that underlie the family of standards. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard must fulfill. A companion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Standards
An international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Other prominent international standards organizations including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Together, these three organizations have formed the World Standards Cooperation alliance. Purpose International standards can be applied directly or adapted to meet local conditions. When adopted, they lead to the creation of national standards that are either equivalent to or largely align with the international standards in technical content, though they may have: (i) editorial variations, such as differences in appearance, the use of symbols, measurement units, or the choice of a point over a comma as the decimal marker, and (ii) v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmonization (standards)
Harmonization is the process of minimizing redundant or conflicting standards which may have evolved independently. The name is also an analogy to the process to harmonizing discordant music. Harmonization is different from standardization. Harmonization involves a reduction in variation of standards, while standardization entails moving towards the eradication of any variation with the adoption of a single standard. The goal for standard harmonization is to find commonalities, identify critical requirements that need to be retained, and provide a common framework for standards setting organizations (SSO) to adopt. In some instances, businesses come together forming alliances or coalitions, also referred to multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI) with a belief that harmonization could reduce compliance costs and simplify the process of meeting requirements. With potential to reduce complexity for those tasked with testing and auditing standards for compliance. Harmonization in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standardization
Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization can help maximize compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, efficiency, and quality. It can also facilitate a normalization of formerly custom processes. In social sciences, including economics, the idea of ''standardization'' is close to the solution for a coordination problem, a situation in which all parties can realize mutual gains, but only by making mutually consistent decisions. Divergent national standards impose costs on consumers and can be a form of non-tariff trade barrier. History Early examples Standard weights and measures were developed by the Indus Valley civilization.Iwata, Shigeo (2008), "Weights and Measures in the Indus Valley", ''Encyclopaedia of the History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
