ST. GALLEN, Switzerland — March 23, 2021 — Now that the impact of past and present business and manufacturing practices on the local and global environment is becoming more and more apparent, governments and public authorities are trying to lead by example and change to green public procurement (GPP) practices for the large volumes of goods (and services) they purchase. The EU Green Deal will further drive this trend in the EU.
The rules and requirements for public procurement in the EU are defined in Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014. Environmental label requirements defined in Article 43 stipulate open, transparent and comprehensible processes for the creation, revision and application of label criteria which are implemented in the national legislation of the member states such as Germany (German Federal Regulation on the Award of Public Contracts). Provided that the requirements are fulfilled, the labels concerned can be used in public procurement processes according to applicable procurement guidelines.
For the latest revision of the bluesign® CRITERIA, bluesign® initiated a stakeholder involvement process and invited more than 500 stakeholders to participate in the consultation process. This stakeholder involvement provided valuable feedback for criteria revision and insights into the needs of different stakeholder groups, thereby contributing to the continual improvement of the bluesign® SYSTEM.
“We are pleased to learn that the German authorities now recognize the bluesign® SYSTEM as a qualifier for Green Public Procurement. For Gore, this milestone is further proof point of the science based, profound and pragmatic approach of the bluesign® SYSTEM, which will help transform and strengthen the segment of consumer and technical protective apparel in the textile industry. This is strong support for Gore´s efforts to provide high performance protective fabrics to professionals in public safety, security, and workwear arenas with the least environmental footprint. We are confident that the German example will be acknowledged in textile procurement throughout the EU,“ says Kilian Hochrein, W.L. Gore & Associates.
“Public procurement of textile articles is a large market (workwear for fire fighters, police forces, the military, bed linens for hospitals, etc.) and governments will increasingly focus on the procurement of sustainable textiles. Governmental bodies should be a forerunner, and in some countries there are already commitments to achieve a certain level of sustainable textiles in procurement decisions. We are proud that bluesign® is now accepted as a qualifier. That´s important for public sector bodies because with our label a wide range of textile articles with high technical performance will now be accepted,” says Thomas Schaefer, Head of bluesign Academy.
bluesign® is proud to further contribute to sustainable production of textiles in the manufacturing countries and improved consumer safety for public servants and other people using publicly procured textiles.
Posted March 23, 2021
Source: bluesign technologies ag
