Evaluating product panels
1 Summary
In 1998, the Danish EPA launched an experiment in introducing product panels to strengthen the involvement of market players in the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative. The first three product panels were set up in the areas of electronics, goods transport and textiles. These three panels and the concept behind them have now been evaluated to provide a basis for reassessing the strategy underlying the product panels. The evaluation report is divided into the three main sections, respectively assessing whether the product panels meet the formal framework requirements set out for their activities; whether the product panels are a useful tool in the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative; and whether adjustments to the concept are needed.
1.1 Do the product panels meet the formal framework requirements set out for their activities?
The product panels have been bound by very few formal framework requirements since they are considered an experiment having to define its own framework. The three product panels have developed differently and at different speeds, partly as a result of the widely differing conditions under which they operate.
The Danish Product Panel for Electronics has so far worked hard to build the foundation of knowledge, tools and competence needed to promote the development and sale of cleaner electronics products. The panel has spotlighted technology on the supply side, having completed a number of projects in this area. At the same time, the electronics panel has attached importance to the process of disseminating knowledge, especially through a website developed by the panel itself. To a wide extent, the electronics panel meets the framework requirements and intentions specified for the product panels. Currently, the panel’s primary challenge is to promote the sale of cleaner electronics products, thus helping to create an actual market for such products. This market does not exist at the moment.
So far, the Danish Product Panel for Goods Transport has focused on building knowledge, methods and competence at the development stage. The results of this work are only just emerging in the form of calculation tools for international transport, green purchasing guidelines, etc. To date, the goods transport panel has given knowledge dissemination a low priority, precisely because there are few results to disseminate as yet. As to its formal framework, the panel has failed to use the action plans adequately as management tools and has published no progress reports on its work. The product life cycle approach has proved difficult to reflect in the panel’s composition, and the question is whether its current composition represents all significant market players in the goods transport industry.
The Danish Product Panel for Textiles can present the most evident results on the supply side of the overall objective to promote the development and sale of cleaner products. Supported by the Environmental Competence Scheme, the panel has helped develop and market a range of eco-labelled textiles. The textiles panel has been able to focus widely on the supply side because the textiles industry already had a solid foundation of environmental knowledge, tools and competence at the time of the panel’s inception. The textiles panel appears to meet all formal framework requirements, even though not all members of the panel have substantial technical experience.
1.2 Are the product panels a useful tool in the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative?
In several areas, the product panels contribute new elements to the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative. All three product panels have helped foster new and cross-sectoral forums for dialogue in areas where networks and work groups of this kind have not previously existed. The panel members find that work undertaken by the individual product panels has helped put the development and sale of cleaner products on the agenda in all three industries.
The involvement of and cooperation between market players, including the product panels, have – in a sense – become a third tool in the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative, supporting and supplementing the two traditional tools: regulation and economic measures. The product panels seem to be a relevant and useful tool that can help:
 | strengthening interaction between markets and environmental authorities |
| strengthening the implementation of the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative |
| increasing market self-regulation |
| raising awareness of the product life cycle approach |
1.3 Does the product panel concept need adjustment?
Product panels are a good idea. Involving market players in the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative more than is currently the case is a positive development. Product panels can be important elements in helping ensure quick and effective implementation of the Product-Oriented Environmental Initiative, which in turn may give Denmark a competitive edge in a market for cleaner products.
There are lessons to be learnt from all three product panels evaluated in this report. Generally, adjustments are needed to "streamline" the concept, thus reducing the uncertainty surrounding objectives, framework requirements, obligations, etc. At the same time, experience can form the basis for establishing a panel framework that supports a better and more constructive work process.
The following table summarises the recommendations for adjusting the product panel concept:
Table 5.1:
Recommendations for product panel concept adjustments
General recommendations |
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Functions |
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Composition |
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Role of the Danish EPA |
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Chairman and secretary |
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Action plan |
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Knowledge dissemination |
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Organisation |
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Funding |
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