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Historical
background information on EBFRIP legal complaint against the Blue Angel eco-label
February 1999
EBFRIP, the
European Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Panel, was concerned by reports that various
players of the electric/electronic (E&E) industry were interpreting the Blue Angel and
the Nordic White Swan schemes as mandatory market entry requirements and that some
government bodies were specifying eco-label criteria as being mandatory rather than
voluntary requirements to comply with public procurement contracts.
On June 4, 1997, EBFRIP
filed a complaint with EU Commission DG XV, which, amongst its internal market
responsibilities, deals with the free movement of goods and public procurement. The basis
for the complaint was EBFRIPs concern that some of the product criteria of the
German Blue Angel and Nordic White Swan eco-labels unfairly discriminate against
brominated flame retardants and distort the free flow of trade within the European Union.
The product categories
concerned in the EBFRIP complaint were: personal computers (PCs), photocopiers, and
printers under the German Blue Angel scheme; and PCs, copiers, printers, and fax machines
under the Nordic White Swan scheme.
EBFRIPs complaint
was not against the eco-labels per se, but rather the specific criteria that they
contained relative to the use of brominated flame retardants in E&E equipment.
On February 26, 1999, EU DG XV sent a
letter to EBFRIP formally closing the complaint.
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