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)