Canadian consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental performance of products. For example, consumers are concerned about the resources and energy used to produce products, and about the sustainability of the product design (can it be reused or recycled? is it biodegradable? is it made of recycled materials?) among other issues.
This has led to an increased demand for environmental information about products from consumers, government, and industry. Industries may choose to communicate environmental benefits through environmental labelling and use advertising vehicles to promote these benefits.
Environmental claims allow consumers to more easily differentiate between products in the market, so consumers can make better purchasing decisions in relation to the environment. In turn, consumers’ purchasing power for such products is a market driver for business to invest in more sustainable environmental practices. Environmental claims, declarations, eco-logos, and other eco-labels have a number of characteristics that allow the receiver to distinguish one kind from another.
This PLUS 14021 Guide is based on CAN/CSA-ISO 14021; it is concerned only with self-declared environmental claims (Type II).
This Guide provides the business community with the tools they need to ensure that their environmental advertising and labelling is not false and misleading, while providing consumers with greater assurance about the accuracy of the claims related to the products and services they buy.
Adherence to the best practices outlined in the Guide will help businesses avoid making misleading claims and comply with the laws enforced by the Federal Competition Bureau.
ISO 14021, Environmental labels and declarations — Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labelling) was published in 1999. This Standard was reaffirmed in 2004 and is scheduled to be reviewed for the next standards development cycle for a new edition in 2008.
ISO 14021 has been translated into several languages in addition to the official languages of ISO (English, French, and Russian) and is widely used as a voluntary and regulated standard. In 2000, ISO 14021 was adopted by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) as CAN/CSA-ISO 14021.
4.3 Specifics of CAN/CSA-CAN/CSA-ISO 14021
CAN/CSA-ISO 14021 sets out eighteen specific requirements applicable to self-declared environmental claims, which are listed below.
- shall be accurate and not misleading;
- shall be substantiated and verified;
- shall be relevant to that particular product, and used only in an appropriate context or setting;
- shall be presented in a manner that clearly indicates whether the claim applies to the complete product, or only to a product component or packaging, or to an element of a service;
- shall be specific as to the environmental aspect or environmental improvement which is claimed;
- shall not be restated using different terminology to imply multiple benefits for a single environmental change;
- shall be unlikely to result in misinterpretation;
- shall be true not only in relation to the final product but also shall take into consideration all relevant aspects of the product life cycle in order to identify the potential for one impact to be increased in the process of decreasing another;
NOTE This does not necessarily mean that a life cycle assessment should be undertaken.
- shall be presented in a manner which does not imply that the product is endorsed or certified by an independent third-party organization when it is not;
- shall not, either directly or by implication, suggest an environmental improvement which does not exist, nor shall it exaggerate the environmental aspect of the product to which the claim relates;
- shall not be made if, despite the claim being literally true, it is likely to be misinterpreted by purchasers or is misleading through the omission of relevant facts;
- shall only relate to an environmental aspect that either exists or is likely to be realized, during the life of the product;
- shall be presented in a manner that clearly indicates that the environmental claim and explanatory statement should be read together. The explanatory statement shall be of reasonable size and in reasonable proximity to the environmental claim it accompanies;
- shall, if a comparative assertion of environmental superiority or improvement is made, be specific and make clear the basis for the comparison. In particular, the environmental claim shall be relevant in terms of how recently any improvement was made;
- shall, if based on a pre-existing but previously undisclosed aspect, be presented in a manner that does not lead purchasers, potential purchasers and users of the product to believe that the claim is based on a recent product or process modification;
- shall not be made where they are based on the absence of ingredients or features which have never been associated with the product category;
- shall be reassessed and updated as necessary to reflect changes in technology, competitive products or other circumstances that could alter the accuracy of the claim; and
- shall be relevant to the area where the corresponding environmental impact occurs.
NOTE A process-related claim can be made anywhere, so long as the environmental impact occurs in the area where the production process is located. The size of the area will be determined by the nature of the impact.
CAN/CSA-ISO 14021, Clause 5.7
Annex B
Principles for all environmental labels and declarations
B.1
These principles are taken from CAN/CSA-ISO 14020, which provides detailed explanations for each one. Following the relevant principles is a prerequisite for all the other standards in the CAN/CSA-14020 Series.
- Environmental labels and declarations shall be accurate, verifiable, relevant, and not misleading.
- Procedures and requirements for environmental labels and declarations shall not be prepared, adopted, or applied with a view to, or with the effect of, creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade.
- Environmental labels and declarations shall be based on scientific methodology that is sufficiently thorough and comprehensive to support the claim and that produces results that are accurate and reproducible.
- Information concerning the procedure, methodology, and any criteria used to support environmental labels and declarations shall be available and provided upon request to all interested parties.
- The development of environmental labels and declarations shall take into consideration all relevant aspects of the life cycle of the product.
- Environmental labels and declarations shall not inhibit innovation that maintains, or has the potential to improve, environmental performance.
- Any administrative requirements of information demands related to environmental labels and declarations shall be limited to those necessary to establish conformance with applicable criteria and standards of the labels and declarations.
- The process of developing environmental labels and declarations should include an open, participatory consultation with interested parties. Reasonable efforts should be made to achieve a consensus throughout the process.
- Information on the environmental aspects of products and services relevant to an environmental label or declaration shall be available to purchasers and potential purchasers from the party making the environmental label or declaration.
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The cost of sales of this edition of the Plus 14021 Guideline has been covered by the Competition Bureau Canada, our partner in this project. Consequently it has been made available to the public at no charge
Plus ISO 14021 - Environmental Claims: A guide for Industry and Advertisers
PLUS 14021 English PDF (approx. 775K) - (left click to open)
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Les coûts associés à la vente de cette édition des lignes directrices Plus 14021 ont été pris en charge par le Bureau de la concurrence Canada, notre partenaire pour ce projet. Par conséquent, il a été distribué gratuitement.
PLUS 14021 French PDF (approx. 1MB) - (cliquez sur la partie gauche de la souris pour ouvrir) |
