ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation, deeply regrets to see a further bureaucratic delay in the adoption of the new regulation on child restraint systems (known as the “I-size Regulation”).

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Today, ANEC publishes a detailed critique of Life Cycle  Assessment (LCA) as a measure of environmental impacts: "Environmental assessment goes astray. A critique of environmental footprint methodology and its ingredients", and  calls on  the  European  Commission to re-think its approach to environmental assessment.

Consumers need a clear and unambiguous indication of a product with superior environmental performance. Present life-cycle indicators are difficult to assess even for experts, let alone the consumer. Moreover, such indicators are not related to consumer needs and hence are of little relevance. “Flooding consumers with such information may be a form of advertising, as in the case of questionable carbon footprint labels, but it has little to do with the provision of sound environmental advice that can assist consumers in their purchases”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell.

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“Consumers are confused by the number of environmental claims that can be found on the EU market, as well as about their reliability and clarity”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell, on the occasion of the European Consumer Summit 2012. The Summit includes consideration of misleading environmental claims. He added, “However, there exist several claims that are trusted due to their simplicity, clarity, credibility and usability. In particular, instruments such as the Ecolabel and Energy Label should be developed further”.

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“ANEC welcomes the proposal of the European Commission, unveiled today, to strengthen consumer confidence and put consumers at the centre of the Single Market”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell “However, we should not forget that, in reality, the needs and expectations of consumers are not limited to the repartition of competences among Commission portfolios.

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The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee of the European Parliament (IMCO) today adopted a Legislative Report on the revision of the present regulatory framework for European Standardisation.
ANEC welcomes the adoption of the Report and its measures to strengthen the voice of consumers in the European Standardisation System.

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