Eco-Labelling: An Introduction and Review

As concern with the environment grows among the public, both in developed and developing countries, environmental issues are beginning to take more of a centre stage in economic and trade policies. One manifestation of this is the desire to inform consumers more fully about the products they purchase, not only with regard to those characteristics of commodities that affect their well-being directly (e.g. additives to food products), but also with regard to the impact of production processes on the environment in general. The practice of supplying information on the environmental characteristics of a commodity to the general public may be called eco-labelling. It is an expanding activity and one that generates many questions, as is clear from the articles in this volume.