amount of abuse within this category by unwarranted claims or rhetorical adjectives, like earth friendly, hypoallergenic, natural, ozone friendly. Type 3 labels are known as report card or score card labels. They are voluntary reports of quantified data that have been verified by a third-party evaluating organization. Eco-labels have developed in a fairly short span of time in response to growing public interest in both health and environmental concerns. First appearing in 1977, by 1989, there were 17; by 1997, there were 49 (Hes, 2000). In 1994, the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) was formeda non-profit association of third-party, environmental performance labelling organizations. By 2001, it included twenty-six national and multinational member organizations, some public, some private. GENs purpose includes fostering co-operation, information exchange and harmonization among its members, promoting eco-labelling internationally, and encouraging both the demand for and supply of more environmentally responsible goods and services (Global Ecolabelling Network, 2005). Public debate about eco-labelling has focused on two areas: first, the credibility and meaningfulness of the label; and secondly, the relationship between eco-labelling and international trade. The very nature of eco-labellingan attempt to influence the market through a simple and compact categorizationhas built-in endemic problems. While increasing numbers of labelling programmes have tried to base their certification on rigorous LCA, the simplification intrinsic to a label always carries the risk of over-simplifying, and also presents opportunities for outright abuse. It is tempting for corporations to employ