Page 4 - 2017ECO

Taiwan Eco-Products Directory 2017-2018

Product Inclusion Criteria

There is currently no universal definition on the term "eco-product". From the trade perspective,

the eco-product, as defined in the UNESCAP document, refers to "the export and import of goods
and services which are produced, traded, used and disposed of in an environmentally sustainable
manner or promote sustainable development". This definition, however, is very broad and it is
rather difficult to classify products accordingly. Taiwan Eco-Products Directory 201-2018

Since 1998, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has established a series of
international standards focusing on environmental labels and declarations. The environmental
labels and declarations refer to the overall environmental characteristics of a product or service
developed based on a particular or multiple environmental considerations, and are designed

to encourage consumers to adopt products with lower environmental impacts, thus motivating
suppliers to reduce environmental impacts generated by their products or services. Under the
framework of the ISO 14020 general principles, ISO has published the ISO 14024 and ISO
14021 standards in 1999 for "Type I environmental labeling" and "Type II environmental labeling",
respectively, and the ISO 14025 standard in 2000 for "Type III environmental declarations".
Additionally, environmental labels designed regarding a specific environmental attribute (e.g.

water conservation, power saving), a specific industry (e.g. forestry industry, construction
materials industry) or a particular product category (e.g. electronics, textiles), which are not
defined in the ISO 14020 series standards, are classified as "other types of environmental labels"
to differentiate their characteristics.

Meanwhile, the threat of global warming has made reduction of carbon footprint the
mainstream trend in the world. According to the Guide to PAS 2050, published by the British
Standards Institution (BSI) in 2008, "carbon footprint" is a term used to describe the amount
of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by a particular activity or entity, and thus a way

for organizations and individuals to assess their contribution to climate change. In 2010, more
than 3000 organizations in 60 countries have disclosed their level of GHG emissions through
the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). In the same year, among the suppliers of 55 international
conglomerates, 1000 companies revealed their carbon reduction objectives and management
initiatives through the CDP Supply Chain Program. As conducting carbon inventory and disclosure

is the first step toward carbon reduction, "product carbon footprint labels and declarations" are
also included as listing criteria of the Directory.

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