In 1999 the motor industry, acting in advance of legislation
and with the full support of the UK government, launched a green label for all
new cars on sale in the UK. The label was designed to give new car buyers key
environmental information on emissions and noise to allow them to make an informed
purchase.
Today’s announcement by the DTLR of a completely different
colour coded label is likely to confuse customers rather than provide any more
useful information.
Christopher Macgowan chief executive SMMT said, ‘We are looking
at the DTLR proposals with interest. However, consumers are only now becoming
accustomed to the current label – yet another new initiative by the UK government
is likely to confuse rather than clarify.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- SMMT Introduced the environmental label in December 1999.
- The European Directive on Fuel Consumption and CO2
labelling was implemented as recently as November 2001.
