Russia and Uzbekistan are for the expansion of ecolabelling programs

The type I ecolabel program will be introduced on January 1st 2020 according to the Government decree “On the introduction of the system of voluntary ecological label of products in the Republic of Uzbekistan” (No 435 from the 27th of May 2019 year). According to the experts of “Gosecocertificate”, manufacturers in Uzbekistan have already expressed an intention to certificate their products, so the department has actively started developing the System. Besides that, the legislation in the Republic prohibits using the terms “eco” without a confirmation by the ecological certificates. Global Ecolabelling Network and its members support the countries interest in developing an ecolabel program on the life cycle, because they think that this tool is one of the main ones in the formation of sustainable production and consumption. Given the almost 20-year experience of the ecolabeling " Vitality Leaf ", as well as the practices of the members of the Global Ecolabelling Network, experts of the Ecological Union prepared a training program to establish a system of environmental certification on the life cycle and conducting ecological certification of the products and services. During the seven-day visit of the delegation from Uzbekistan, the “Vitality Leaf” experts talked about how to develop the type I ecolabelling standards, the certification procedure, about the features of the training and work of the expert system auditors, the inspection control procedure, as well as the PR support for ecolabelling in the market and its role in the fight against greenwashing. Aimuratov Timurlan, the director of the GUP “Gosecocertificate” (a Certification Body), and Adilova Miyassar, the head of the environmental labeling department, have noted the large scale of work needed to create a certification system and the important role of the work in raising awareness of the business and the society, as well as building trust in the labeling. Russian and Uzbek specialists have paid special attention in studying the development of the criteria for the environmental standards in the life cycle. The second part of the training program will be held in Uzbekistan and will be devoted to certain narrow issues in developing the standards and a certification system. The Ecological Union is pleased to cooperate with other type I ecolabelling programs and the opportunity to provide them with expert support in the development, since the expansion of the network of type I environmental labeling programs will contribute to the development and expansion of the production of environmentally friendly products and the development of this market.