Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-372"
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"en.20060906.24.3-372"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, I should first like to congratulate Mrs Fraga Estévez on her outstanding report and to say that in view of the growing interest in safe, high-quality food products, the need to preserve marine ecosystems and the recent upsurge in products with what is known as eco-labelling, a Community approach to eco-labelling is urgently needed.
A number of new, high-quality eco-labelling schemes have appeared around the world, including one in my country, POPA (the Azores Fisheries Observation Programme), which certifies the tuna catch in the Azores Autonomous Region. The problem is that not all environmental certification programmes prioritise the protection of the biological heritage of our oceans. Instead, there is a range of economic interests often hidden behind this kind of labelling, and this is why, in order to protect the environment and the consumer, we must proceed with great care and assume our responsibilities as political decision makers.
Among the different proposals put forward by the Commission in this communication, the one that can best serve the interests at hand is that of establishing minimum requirements for voluntary eco-labelling schemes. In this way, on the basis of these pre-established minimum requirements, eco-labelling schemes can develop freely, on a flexible, voluntary basis, via public or private initiatives, yet within a generic regulatory framework.
As a public entity, the EU must define these minimum requirements because only then will it be possible to protect the general interest and the prerogatives enshrined in the Common Fisheries Policy.
Lastly, I should also like to point out that this is work that we have to do, both in the context of the Union and in the framework of trade relations outside the Union, in order to guarantee transparency, credibility and fairness, not least because eco-labelling is set to become a further means of distinguishing between products with repercussions for competitiveness."@en1
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