The
Competition Bureau of Canada and the Canadian Standards
Association have developed guidelines based on CAN/CSA-ISO
14021 detailing the appropriate use of environmental terms.
Their guide reflects the most current, internationally accepted,
best practice information on the use of environmental claims.
The guide is designed to help level playing field; reduce the
risk of communicating misleading environmental claims; provide an
incentive to improve environmental performance; and meet the
growing consumer demand for products and packaging to have a
reduced environmental impact.
The second edition of the guideline titled
Environmental Claims: A Guide for Industry and Advertisers, was
published in June 2008 by Canadian Standards Association, a
not-for-profit private sector organization. It supersedes the
previous edition published in 2000, entitled The CAN/CSA-ISO 14021
Essentials.
The first objective of this Guide is to provide the users of ISO
14021, with a best practice guide to the application of the
standard and some practical examples of how the standard could be
applied to environmental claims in the Canadian marketplace.
The second objective is to provide assistance to industry and
advertisers in complying with certain provisions of the Competition
Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, and the Textile
Labelling Act.
This Guide provides examples of preferred approaches and
discouraged approaches to illustrate commonly used environmental
claims; shows how to avoid misleading or deceptive claims relating
to an implied or expressed environmental benefit; establishes the
guidelines for Mobius loop markings; and suggests methodologies for
tests that can be used to clarify claims.
The guide offers best practices for complying with the provisions
that prohibit false or misleading representations.
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