Ecolabeling criteria to be through consensus
Ecolabeling criteria to be through consensus
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Environment confirmed yesterday that the determining of the criteria for products which will be ecolabeled should pass a national consensus in accordance with the procedures set by the National Standardization Board.
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said those involved in the national consensus include not just the government and non-government organizations, but also industries and representatives of consumers.
"The ecolabel itself will be granted by independent institutes," Sarwono said, adding that the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) will organize the process of discerning the ecolabeling criteria.
P.L. Coutrier, the deputy chairman of environmental impact analysis and technical training of the agency, said the independency of the ecolabeling institutes will not free them of the obligation to respect the standardization valid on either national or international levels.
He said that the institutes should be accredited by the National Standardization Board through another national committee on accreditation, which would need the consideration and evaluation of the Accreditation Committee for the Technical Agency, especially from the environmental impact point of view.
"Surely there will be many such independent and reliable ecolabeling institutes," he said. He added that, at present, there is only one authorized ecolabeling institute in the country, the Indonesian Ecolabel Institute. The institute's members consist mostly of officials from the National Institute of Sciences.
Sarwono denied reports that ecolabeling would be imposed by the government. He said that industries which apply for ecolabels from the institutes shall do it on voluntary basis.
"In the past, we were in the habit of deciding and doing everything ourselves. Now the administration will act only as a catalyst in the process of creating an ecolabeling system," he said.
The minister added that those who do not give ecolabeling top priority will surely come out as losers in the open trade competition.
"The market demands ecolabeling, so it is up to the industries whether they want their products to be marketable or not," he said. Sarwono said that there are many small companies which are not yet ready to undertake ecolabeling.
He added that Indonesian exporters have to be aware of the fact that from 1977 until 1993, 19 countries implemented the ecolabeling principle.
They are Germany, Canada, Japan, Scandinavia, the United States, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Australia, India, South Korea, Singapore, France, Holland, the European Union, Croatia, Taiwan and Israel.
In order to determine the criteria for ecolabeling, the Environmental Impact Management Agency founded the Indonesian Committee of Ecolabeling Experts in February.
The members are representatives of the Indonesian Businessmen Council for Sustainable Development, the Indonesian Ecolabel Institute, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Standardization Board, non-governmental organizations, universities and experts in other fields. (16)