Outline and Future Direction of the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing

Abstract
The Law on Promoting Green Purchasing was enacted last May as a scheme to help realize a recycling-based society from the demand side. It obliges governmental organizations to carry out green procurement, as well as encourages local governments, businesses and citizens to start green purchasing and prescribes measures to promote dissemination of information on eco-products. Based on the law, the Basic guidelines for governmental green procurement were decided by the cabinet in February this year. The Basic Guidelines laid down 101 designated procurement items and evaluation criteria that governmental organizations should endeavor to purchase in common. Following these guideline, each organization has started to draw up an action plan and to carry out green procurement since this April. Also, the Ministry of the Environment has started an information dissemination program on various eco-products' information sources like eco-labels. From now on, policy to realize continuous development of green purchasing is important, and it will include the development of measures to ensure effective governmental green procurement like appropriate evaluation system, and integrated policy measures to promote various actors' green purchasing.

Key words: green purchasing, green procurement, eco-labeling, eco-products, recycle-based society