EPSS was developed, in part, in response to the increased level of public awareness and concern for the environmental characteristics of product packaging. This concern has caused governments to issue guidance, standards, and in some cases regulations restricting the use or disposal of certain types of packaging and limiting the types of marketing claims that can be made about the environmental characteristics of products. Some of these regulatory initiatives include:

• 2002: Pro-Europe consolidated Green Dot packaging rules on their new PRO EUROPE website.
• 1998: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized its guidelines on the use of environmental marketing claims. First proposed in the early 1990's, these guidelines were finalized in May 1998. (To view/download the FTC guidelines final rule in PDF format, click here. To fully understand the guidelines, you should also review the October 4, 1996 revision.)
• 1998: The UK Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) issued its Green Claims Code, which is similar in concept to the FTC guidelines.
• 1994: The European Community issued Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.