Taiwan's sponsoring of the 2002 Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) annual conference, which begins today in Taipei, demonstrates the country's commitment to the environmental certification method, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
More than 100 participants from 17 countries will attend the five-day conference, titled Ecolabelling: International Issues, Challenges and Opportunities.
Established in 1994 by Taiwan, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Sweden and Spain, GEN aims to to improve, promote and develop the "ecolabelling" of products and services.
Ecolabelling is a guide for consumers to choose products and services that cause less damage to the environment.
"Having engaged in promoting ecolabelling, Taiwan's efforts now are well-recognized by the international community," environmental official Ko Chih-hung (
According to Ko, Taiwan launched its Green Mark Program in 1992 to promote recycling, pollution reduction and resource conservation. The objectives of ecolabelling are both to guide consumers and to encourage manufacturers to design and manufacture environmentally friendly products, Ko said.
To date, Ko said, about 1,500 domestic products have received the ecolabel.
"This achievement ranks Taiwan fourth in the world in the ecolabelling field," said Ko, adding that in Asia only Japan had given ecolabels to a greater number of products.
Ko also said that Taiwan was the first country to legislate for green public procurement.
When the Government Procurement Act was passed in 1998, the Legislative Yuan included a clause that stipulates that during government procurement bids, products bearing the Green Mark (Taiwan's ecolabel) or those with comparable characteristics should be given priority consideration.
At the conference, Taiwan's experience in legislating the Public Green Procurement will be introduced by Yu Ning (于寧), president of the Environmental and Development Foundation (EDF, 環境與發展基金會), an organization authorized by the EPA to help enterprises apply for ecolabels, such as the Energy Star label.
As multinational companies proliferate, Yu said, the promotion of mutual recognition among countries becomes important.
Domestic products receiving the ecolabel are also recognized by four other countries, the US, Canada, Thailand and South Korea, which signed mutual recognition agreements with Taiwan.
In addition, Yu said, the establishment of common criteria for products was crucial to further stimulate international trade. Last year, common criteria for personal computers were established by Taiwan, Japan, Canada, Thailand, and several European countries.
Yu said Taiwan now was working to establish common criteria for cartridges and paints with Thailand, South Korea, Japan and China.
A Chinese non-governmental organization, the China Ecolabelling Center, is the only non-member participant in GEN. The center refused to become an official member because Taiwan's EDF was recognized being from ROC Taiwan.
Yu said that China sensed the importance of ecolabelling because products without the ecolabel would be less competitive in countries that demand them.
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