Green Claims - Practical Guidance
Businesses must not bend the rules when making claims
for their products'
green credentials, government ministers warned today.
Firms must do more to
make sure that their environmental claims are true,
legal and can be trusted
by consumers, says new guidance published today by the
Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the
Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI).
Green
Claims - Practical Guidance is published jointly
by Defra and DTI, supported by the CBI, British Retail
Consortium, LACORS, and British Standards Institution.
The guidance spells out the dos and don'ts for businesses,
and encourages more firms to give consumers better information
about the environmental performance of their products.
Ministers want to raise the standard of green claims,
with labels that are
accurate, truthful and unambiguous, in plain language
or with symbols that
have clear meanings. Businesses should be able to substantiate
and verify
any claims they make.
The new guidance adds to the existing Green Claims
Code, and in partnership with industry bodies the government
has produced more detailed advice for makers of aerosols,
paints, greetings cards, cleaning products and growing
media.
Copies of these sector guidance are also available
free from Defra - Admail 6000, London,
SW1A 2XX (tel 08459 556000).
3 December 2003
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