4. Review and outlook

4.1 Contrasting provisional results

Depending on the country and product category concerned, ecolabels have met with varying degrees of success. Germany and the Nordic countries are particularly well established, corresponding to the countries with the longest history of ecolabeling.

Taking together the European ecolabel and the NF-Environnement mark, the number of categories eligible for certification on the French market in 2005 was 40 (see list in table 7 ), corresponding to over 500 commercial references and around one hundred companies. At European level, the growth of eco-labelled products is highly encouraging, and France, one of the leading countries in terms of European certification, is...