Environmental Label Jury

The Independent Decision-Making Body

According to its rules of procedure the Jury is composed of 15 individuals up to 13 of whom are appointed by the Federal Minister for the Environment in consultation with the chairman/chairwoman of the Conference of Federal and State Ministers for the Environment for a period of three years. This is done with due consideration to all relevant social groups, such as representatives from environmental and consumer associations, trade and industry, to mention just some of them. Two additional members of the Jury are representatives of the Laender. One Laender representative is a person delegated by the Ministry for the Environment of the state (or Land) chairing the Conference of Federal and State Ministers for the Environment and the second one is delegated by the state that had previously chaired the Conference. The Federal Minister for the Environment appoints the Laender representatives for a period of two years. During the first meeting of each appointment period the Jury elects a chairman from among its midst.

The Jury meets twice a year for its rotational meetings. In addition to this, the committees (Basic Award Criteria, Marketing/International Affaires, Technological Progress) meet to discuss specific topics. The chairman/chairwoman represents the Jury at events and discussions held between the meetings.

Jury members are impartial and not bound by directives. They work as volunteers.

Tasks and Competences: Spurring Developments

The Environmental Label Jury awards the Blue Angel eco-label to products and services which - from a holistic point of view - are of considerable benefit to the environment and, at the same time, meet high standards of serviceability and health and occupational protection. The Label-Awarding Agency is RAL.

The Jury decides on the products and services to be “Blue Angel”-ecolabelled as well as on the underlying Basic Award Criteria and the respective compliance verifications. These are elaborated on a scientific basis by the Federal Environment Agency with the collaboration of RAL and the groups involved. When establishing the criteria the Federal Environment Agency takes into account that about 30 percent of the best available products on the market can be awarded the eco-label.