- the active and voluntary commitment by the registered organizations in order to constantly improve their environmental performance beyond the provisions of the regulation;
- the presence of a valid environmental management system that implements the objectives set by the organization;
- the credibility of the information provided, for example those contained in the environmental declaration, and the validation by an accredited environmental verifier.
Unlike the EMAS logo, the ecological labeling systems for products and services have the following characteristics:
- are by nature selective and therefore indicate a comparative declaration that differentiates the products, activities and services on which this labeling is affixed by those that do not;
- indicate compliance with ecological criteria established by a third party, to which only some of the products on the market comply;
- the definition of the applicable criteria is based on a consultation procedure subject to approval (mostly official).
Thanks to ecological labeling systems, important information can be obtained regarding the environmental aspects of products and services.
The EMAS logo does not have any of these characteristics and should not be used in such a way as to cause confusion in this sense.
It is up to organizations, verifiers and competent bodies to avoid any confusion with ecological product labeling.
To this end, the organization must carefully select the information to be transmitted and develop communication tools to avoid confusion.
It is up to the verifier to assess the validity and reliability of the message to be transmitted to the consumer, in accordance with the criteria set out in Annex III, points 3.2 and 3.5 and with the tasks pertaining to it, specified in Annex V.
