US Consumer Product Environmental Statement Guidelines Will Be Revised

The United States Federal Trade Commission intends to revise the guidelines for environmental declaration. It is now consulted until December 10th. A number of American companies have submitted their views to the committee, indicating that the guidelines will help to curb the abuse of environmental declaration, enhance consumer confidence, make manufacturers' environmental language more clear and consistent, and enable consumers to acquire more specific and accurate environmental information, so as to make appropriate procurement decisions.

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The environmental guidelines require that the information on the products be clear and easy to avoid.

The environmental statement should specify whether the product, product packaging, service, or simply.

Products should not be exaggerated in direct or implied ways.

The proposed amendments cover new guidelines for manufacturers' certification and approval of products, renewable energy declaration, renewable materials declaration and carbon compensation statement.

1. general environmental benefits: manufacturers should not use the wording of environmental benefits such as "environmental protection" because the statement is difficult to prove its authenticity.

The description of the statement must be clear and limited to some specific benefit.

2. certification and approval seal: certification and seal are the way of accreditation covered by the Federal Trade Commission's "accreditation guidelines". This chapter lists new examples to illustrate how the guidelines apply to environmental declarations.

Since an unqualified certification or seal has the opportunity to constitute a general environmental benefit statement, the manufacturer should limit the statement to specific features that can be verified in clear terms.

The third party certification shall not exempt the manufacturer from the obligation to confirm all statements.

3. degradable: for the solid waste products which are not sent to landfills, incinerators or recycling plants, the motion clarifies that the reasonable time for complete decomposition is less than 1 years after the normal abandonment.

To be sent to landfills, incinerators or recycling plants, manufacturers should not add degradable declarations which are not stated, because the products will not be decomposed within 1 years.

4. corruption: the motion clarifies that the "timely" referred to in the current guidelines refers to the decomposition time of a product similar to the decomposition time of its constituent materials.

5. recyclable: if the majority of consumers have access to recycling plants, manufacturers can make statements that are not stated in detail.

If a large percentage of consumers do not have access to the recycling plant, the manufacturer should make an explanation of the recyclable statement.

6. does not contain any substance: the motion is added to the new chapter and the existing guidelines are expanded to indicate that if the product is marked with no substance, even if it is true, it is still fraudulent in the following circumstances. These include: (1) the product contains other substances, which can constitute the same environmental risk; (2) the substance has never been associated with the product category.

On the contrary, in some cases, the product contains only a very small amount of substance, even if it does not contain such substance.

The statement does not contain any substance, and may also constitute additional environmental declarations, including general benefits or relative advantages.

7. non toxicity: such statements may make people feel that a product is harmless to humans and the environment.

8. manufacture of renewable materials: manufacturers should explain the statement and provide specific information on renewable materials.

If the product is not made entirely of renewable materials, it should also be stated in the statement.

9. renewable energy: if the energy used for manufacturing any part of the product comes from fossil fuels, the manufacturer should not claim that the product is made of renewable energy, but it will not be explained.

Manufacturers should indicate the source of renewable energy.

10. carbon compensation: the carbon compensation program provides financial compensation for projects to reduce emissions of certain greenhouse gases to offset their emissions.

Manufacturers should have sufficient and reliable scientific evidence to support their carbon compensation statement, including the use of appropriate accounting methods to ensure that the emission reductions are properly calculated and that no reductions have been sold for more than 1 times.

If the offsetting of carbon emissions is basically legislation, manufacturers should not make a carbon compensation statement.