HONG KONG, Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Council today signs a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with its counterparties in Thailand and Japan during Eco Expo Asia 2015 in a bid to facilitate the certification process across the three countries and further promote intra-regional trade of green products. The MRAs which were signed between Green Council and the Japan Environment Association and the Thailand Environment Council respectively follows a number of bilateral agreements signed between various countries in Asia and demonstrates the increased regional awareness and interest in environmentally-friendly products. The respective agreements open up for increased collaboration on labelling practices and verification processes, as well as the mutual adoption of criteria for compliance and testing purposes among the participating certification bodies.
During the signing ceremony, Linda Ho, CEO of Green Council said "The MRAs will significantly contribute to the development and integration of green products in Asia and we will work closely with our new partners on developing the labelling practices in Asia further in order to promote and encourage eco-labelling in the region. The Green Council is keen to see that the MRAs will form the foundation to work towards a unified regional labeling system in the future, which we believe will bring tremendous benefits to both consumers and companies."
With the implementation of the scope covered in the MRAs, companies are believed to benefit from the stronger collaboration reflected under the agreement as the testing and approval procedure will be quicker and practices around production site audits can now be conducted by qualified local agencies instead of the respective certifying body, thus reducing the overall time needed to perform an audit. Consumers will benefit from an increased number of eco-friendly products becoming available in their respective local market.
The signing ceremony, which took place on the opening day of the Eco EXPO Asia 2015 fair follows the third edition of the "Asia Caron Footprint Conference" which was recently organised in Hong Kong by the Green Council with the support of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ("ESCAP") and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute. The Eco Expo Asia 2015 is a leading international trade fair when it comes to showcasing the latest trends and innovations around sustainable development and environmental protection. Steven Choi, Project Manager at the Green Council said "Green Council is one of the major exhibitor of the Eco Expo Asia 2015 and we are very happy to have these agreements signed during the fair, as it is a perfect platform to show the progress of intra-regional co-operation, and will hopefully inspire others to follow suit. The Green Council remains committed to working on projects that lead to a more sustainable future, and as we have always pointed out that co-operation is a key part of that process we hope that these agreements will serve as a first step towards wider integration and collaboration among the Asian nations"
About Green Council
The Green Council (GC) is a non-profit, non-partisan environmental association in Hong Kong. A group of individuals from different sectors of industry and academics shared the vision to help build Hong Kong into a world-class green city for the future. Green Council was formed in May 2000 with the aim of encouraging the industrial and commercial sectors to include environmental protection in their production and management processes. The Green Council was registered as a non-profit making organisation in December 2000. For more information, please visit: http://www.greencouncil.org.
