GOOD Environmental Choice – Australia GECA) has warned manufacturers not to make unsubstantiated claims about their compliance or otherwise to GECA standards without having undergone a thorough independent assessment.
In a statement released earlier this week, the organisation said that such claims are considered as misleading by GECA and may be subject to prosecution under the Trade Practices Act.
GECA is the national life cycle based environmental labelling program for consumer and building products offering an independent ecolabel on the basis of environmental preference of products and services.
They also said with the growth and increasing sophistication of the green procurement markets the value and assurance provided by the Good Environmental Choice label is a key driver for effective shifts in the market towards lower environmental impact products.
GECA has now certified over 1.2B worth of consumer and building products on the market from over 75 manufacturers delivering over 400 different product lines.
Certified manufacturers undergo a comprehensive verification of their products environmental attributes in conformance to the GECA standard requirements as developed under ISO 14 024 — International standard for third party environmental labelling bodies.
The GECA standards are among the most stringent environmental benchmarks for consumer and building products in Australia.
GECA was recently made aware that some manufacturers have made misleading claims about their products’ compliance to GECA standards.
The organisation wishes to make it very clear that it is highly inappropriate for manufacturers who have not undergone the rigorous and thorough assessment process carried out by GECA to claim compliance with any GECA standard.
GECA said they are committed to enforcing the use of the Good Environmental Choice label and the accuracy of any information associated with any non certified manufacturers use of the standards or references to the Mark.
For more information visit the website at www.geca.org.au or email management@geca.org.au
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