Brussels, 14/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - Risk&Co, the French policy and international security advisers, held a round table discussion in Brussels on Thursday 13 November on the “label war”, a topic of which, for the moment, not much is heard in member states or at Community level.
Gilles Lhuilier, a university professor, said that labels have a price (between 0.5 and 5% of the cost of the product), and that, despite this cost, organic cosmetics are growing by 30 to 40% per year. The good news in these times of crisis is that it is the companies which are calling for “real market regulation through labels”. The numbers of labels are becoming more and more numerous: - institutional labels (European eco label); - federative labels (associations); single or multi reference labels; - company labels (which “are mushrooming”, like organic cosmetics). He felt, in short, that there were no rules to be followed when creating a label. It is the labels that confer the necessary strength on, for example, ISO standards. There is “very little” regulation at Community level. Only the 2004 directive on public procurement stipulates that labels can be used as a system of reference in calls for tenders. WTO rules state that labels are not considered to be barriers to international trade, which means that it will be possible to use labels as a protectionist measure. There is a war going on between European labels and non-EU country labels (Chinese organic products). Lhuilier then said that there is a “common law” for labels (good practice): systems of reference, a credible certificator, account taken of the life cycle of the product (as a counter-example, Malongo coffee is certified not the roasting) and formalisation by contract (between the company requesting certification and the body which operates the label). “It is to be wondered if there is not some convergence between company policies and European policies on labelling,” Lhuilier said. However, at the same time, companies will cooperate among themselves to coordinate labelling while, at the same time, European labelling policy “has difficulty in progressing”. What is required is not European labelling, but “coordination, driven by the Commission, between the various labels,” he said.
Jean Bergevin is a head of unit in the European Commission's DG Internal Market. He leads the “Services II” unit which is responsible for the application of internal market law to communication, commercial distribution, certification and gambling services. He said that, if labels were to be used to increase the quality of goods and services, “they have to be affordable for SMEs”. He was critical of the fact that most labelling is national. “What is there to prevent these labels being used trans-nationally, over two or three markets” he asked. He said that if SMEs invest in a label, but have to start all over again when the market changes, “there is a real problem”. There are great grounds for hope in standardisation in the area of services. He stated that there had been standardisation in labelling, but the label must “remain competitive, otherwise its entire potential is lost”. Furthermore, Bergevin said that logic demanded that a label certifying agency in one country should be able to operate in another member state. He acknowledged, however, that in the current transposition of the services directive (to come into force in November 2009), there was a certain reluctance on this issue. He wondered, too, if companies could not make savings through labelling equivalences across countries. At the end of the year, the Commission will adopt a communication on the distribution sector (on the role of the sector in the internal market).
Jean-Christophe Saint-Geniès spoke about the work of V. Navy, a service provider who is trying to develop a ship salvage business. Dismantling vessels at the end of their lives is a huge, several billion dollar market. On average, every year, 400 vessels are salvaged around the world. For reasons of international legislation, business is expected to peak around 2010, with 800 single hulled tankers having to be withdrawn from service. 90% of the current market is in Asia (Bangladesh, India and Pakistan), where salvage work is carried out in social and environmental conditions that are “unacceptable under European standards,” Saint-Geniès said. The UN, he went on, is trying to draw up a convention, but it will not be ratified before 2012. In the meantime, there is a growing need for certification of “green” salvage of vessels. There is some support for a “European label” to regulate the dismantling of ships. He also pointed to conflict in some approaches to standardisation. ISO is trying to develop a standard (“ISO 30000” to approve the management procedures for shipyards and suggest certain practices). ISO is also involved in discussions on the UN international convention, presenting draft standards, but this convention is calling on ISO to “slow down” in defining procedures. Those taking part in the convention do not see an immediate need for ISO standards on the part of the industry in the sector. (L.C./transl.rt)