Brussels, 31 October 2003

EURO COOP is the European Community of Consumer Co-operatives, whose members are the national organisations of consumer co-operatives in 11 of the 15 Member States of the EU and in 3 Central and Eastern European countries. Created in 1957, EURO COOP today represents over 3,200 local or regional co-operatives, membership of which amounts to over 19 million consumers in the EU and 2 million in the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

EURO COOP welcomes the European Commission Communication (COM (2003) 302) on Integrated Product Policy (IPP) and looks forward to explore further the IPP potential by participating in the upcoming pilot projects within the framework of the Communication.

However, EURO COOP would like to emphasise the need for more resources to be allocated in order to make these kinds of projects successful. If this will not be the case, companies, even front-runners, will have great problems finding the pilot projects useful.

EURO COOP regrets that none of its member organisations, at this stage, have the capacity to organise or run such kind of projects. Nevertheless, EURO COOP will be more than willing to participate with its expertise and experiences.

The Commission has stated in its Communication that the pilot projects should not be on the most environmentally damaging products. Products that can be easily understood by stakeholders are preferred. The pilot projects should last for around 12 months. A small amount of money has been set aside for the projects.

Within this framework, EURO COOP proposes the following ideas for pilot projects:

• Organic production:
  Particularly, to focus on cereals as there is, currently, a surplus of organic certified cereals in the EU. It would therefore be an opportunity to take action by involving non-organic bakeries.
• Detergents:
  The eco-labelling of detergents is still at an early stage within the EU. Furthermore, the accession countries have big chemical industries but have a fairly underdeveloped waste water treatment system. There is therefore an opportunity to develop eco-labelled household chemicals in these countries involving the current EU Member States.
• Green transport:
  Transportation is the biggest source contributing to CO2. New actors would therefore have to be involved to explore alternative ways to reduce the level of CO2.
• Renewable energy:
  Energy production and consumption are the second biggest contributor to global warming. Projects aiming at linking small scale on-site production of energy with energy efficiency are of great importance.
• Textile:
  Textile is a product that has many different functions in daily life. It could therefore serve as a good example for a pilot project. Since it would cover a number of aspects within the IPP Communication.