Product data

www.ukepic.co.uk

A key element of the Government's market transformation policy is to ensure the availability and accessibility of information about the environmental performance of consumer products and other traded goods ( www.ukepic.co.uk ). Major related policy measures include mandatory energy labelling, voluntary Ecolabelling, the Green Claims Code and a number of other initiatives to encourage more reliable consumer information.

The Market Transformation Programme has already supported the development of product databases on boilers, TVs, VCRs and PCs and, indirectly, the development of the Danish ELDA consumer information and advice system into a form suitable for UK consumers. There are many other EU and International database type consumer information systems under development. It is clear that, with the rise of Internet shopping and global markets, the demand for such information is likely to increase and to be sustained.

There is a variety of end-uses for this kind of information, for example, point-of-sale information systems for retailers, consumer advice via help-lines, policy research and enforcement activities, buyers guides, promotion and endorsement schemes etc. Whilst these might require different user interfaces, all such Information Applications require access to the same set or a subset of basic technical product information.

At present, for domestic appliances at least, manufacturers tend to use different model codes depending on where the product is to be marketed. That means there is little immediate prospect of complete transparency for consumer information and for a simple EU-wide market product database developing. Therefore a separate product database is needed in each market area or country. However, there is scope, where it is clear that common products exist in different markets, to progressively increase linkages and to share information with other similar product information databases.

Product Suppliers are under pressure to make available their product information directly to a growing number of third party applications. These applications may require the information to be provided in a variety of specific formats. It is likely to reduce costs to business if they could post such product information once to a primary information base or if they were to make such information freely available in machine-readable formats. Costs might be further reduced if there were to be a degree of harmonisation in the information exchange formats required by information databases and third party applications.