Ecolabel - a second chance for Bosnian organic products?

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Source eKapija, 08. 09. 2010.
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	Federalno ministarstvo okoliša i turizma Sarajevo.
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September 13, 2010 - Food products labeled as eco, are popular in EU countries. Our country still has not developed a mentality to recognize the worth of such products. Many are not even aware that Eco means environment friendly product.

In the EU there is a whole onset of labels put on food, pillows, high-tech products…

Mija Martina Barbaric spokeswoman for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, said in an interview with eKapija.ba that until now there has been no issuing of ecolabels.

“Federal ministry of Environment and Tourism only last year moved with the project Eco-labels. Much work is still needed on the promotion. The Federal Ministry of Tourism and Environment last year organized a campaign to promote the green label as an additional quality to a product, as said in the the name ‘Environment friendly’, an action we are planning this year as well”, explains Barbaric.

It is highly important for consumers to start observing organic products as something that is valuable, says Barbaric.

“We have to develop organic production if we want to export to the EU market, at the same time taking care of environment and hiring people in rural areas. The Federal Ministry has issued previously a Public Call to allocation of eco labels, but nobody applied. A new call for proposals is in the pipeline, together with the campaign and animation of the potential applicants”, says Barbaric.

Eco labels will be allocated to those that have a certain level of quality from the point of view environment protection, that is, that a product is grown in an organic environment, without too much interference with it s natural growth.

“According to the procedures, Call for proposals will be issued to all the interested that comply with the criteria. Public call is open for a month, and then the Eco Commission will review the applications and submit a report to the Federal Ministry together with the proposals including candidates to be labeled and concluded contracts with. So roughly, the entire procedure would last for two months from the day of the Call for proposals to the labeling itself”, she says.

Rules stipulate that an ecolabel is awarded for a period of four years maximum. The exact period is concluded between a candidate and the ministry. Also, a contract can be ended if the Commission finds that the products do not satisfy the criteria any more.

From all of the above, the ecolabel is a trend that is coming to life, so that everyone who wants to lead in the market, must be labeled and certified accordingly, especially taking in consideration the EU and their organic products. Eco labeled products in EU markets get extra points and do better in public bidding, saving that way millions of Euros of state budgets.

E. Ko.