30.1.2010 Official Journal of the European Union L27/1 IV (Acts adopted before 1 December 2009 under the EC Treaty, the EU Treaty and the Euratom Treaty) REGULATION (EC) No 66/20 10 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 November 2009 on the EU Ecolabel (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EURO- PEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3, Whereas: (1) The aim of Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 of the Euro- pean Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 on a revised Community eco-label award scheme (%) was to establish a voluntary ecolabel award scheme intended to promote products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle and to provide consumers with accurate, non-deceptive, science-based information on the environmental impact of products. The experience gained during the implementation of Regu- lation (EC) No 1980/2000 has shown the need to amend that ecolabel scheme in order to increase its effectiveness and streamline its operation. (1) 0 C 120, 28.5.2009, p. 56. (2) 0] C 218, 11.9.2009, p. 50. (%) Opinion of the European Parliament of 2 April 2009 (not yet pub- lished in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 26 October 20009. (% OJ L 237, 21.9.2000, p. 1. The amended scheme (hereinafter ‘the EU Ecolabel scheme’) should be implemented in compliance with the provisions of the Treaties, including, in particular, the pre- cautionary principle as laid down in Article 174(2) of the EC Treaty. 6) It is necessary to ensure coordination between the EU Eco- label scheme and the establishment of the requirements in the context of Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Par- liament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establish- ing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy related products (°). The EU Ecolabel scheme is part of the sustainable con- sumption and production policy of the Community, which aims at reducing the negative impact of consumption and production on the environment, health, climate and natu- ral resources. The scheme is intended to promote those products which have a high level of environmental perfor- mance through the use of the EU Ecolabel. To this effect, it is appropriate to require that the criteria with which prod- ucts must comply in order to bear the EU Ecolabel be based on the best environmental performance achieved by prod- ucts on the Community market. Those criteria should be simple to understand and to use and should be based on scientific evidence, taking into consideration the latest technological developments. Those criteria should be mar- ket oriented and limited to the most significant environ- mental impacts of products during their whole life cycle. In order to avoid the proliferation of environmental label- ling schemes and to encourage higher environmental per- formance in all sectors for which environmental impact is a factor in consumer choice, the possibility of using the EU Ecolabel should be extended. However, for food and feed (°) OJ L 285, 31.10.2009, p. 10.