Chinaʹs environmental labeling program

Chinaʹs environmental labeling program was created because the government wanted to improve environmental management, and some Chinese enterprises expected that labeling would help eliminate non-tariff barriers for their exports and allow them to expand their domestic market shares. The labeling program, which is managed by the Chinese government, is a voluntary third-party certification system based on labeling procedures developed in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Thus far, Chinaʹs labeling program has increased consumer awareness of labeled products and encouraged some enterprises to adopt cleaner technologies in products that have close relationships with consumersʹ health. However, the effectiveness of the program is very limited because only a small number of product categories are included in the program, consumersʹ purchasing behavior in China has been influenced by environmental labels for only several types of products, and relatively few enterprises participate in this program. The following measures would improve the effectiveness of the labeling program: enhancing public awareness of environmental labeling and environmental protection, increasing the number of product categories involved in environmental labeling, displaying more information on labels, and integrating the labeling program into Chinaʹs efforts to promote cleaner production and to encourage compliance with ISO 14000 standards.