NL: Proliferation of certification labels hurts their credibility

19 January 2016

Dutch consumers are losing confidence in certification labels because of the proliferation of such labels and because of the lack of certainty over what these labels actually mean. As a result thereof, the credibility of all certification labels has come under pressure. This has been revealed by a preliminary study of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).
Consumers believe that they should be able to rely on the fact that certification labels can be trusted, provide clear information, and that an independent authority regulates these labels. Hundreds of labels are currently in existence, and some of them are seen as marketing gimmicks (News Item ACM, 7 January 2016).
Click here for the news item (in Dutch).
Click here for the study (398 kB, in Dutch).

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