29 ecolabels from various different nations. The following institutions are involved in the award process for the Blue Angel: The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) is the owner of the label. It defines the fundamental guidelines for the award of the Blue Angel and appoints the members of the Environmental Label Jury. In addition, the ministry promotes the Blue Angel to the public, consumers and industry and also advocates greater consideration of the label in public procurement processes. . The Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) develops the specialist criteria that a product or service must comply with in order to be certified with the Blue Angel on a scientific basis and presents them to the hearings for the affected stakeholders (expert hearings). The Federal Environmental Agency regularly examines the criteria to ensure that the Blue Angel is always fully up to date with the latest technical developments. In addition, it also acts as the office of the Environmental Label Jury and thus supports its work. Furthermore, the UBA receives any proposals for new environmental labels from companies, private persons and organisations and, after checking and examining them, presents them to the Environmental Label Jury. The Environmental Label Jury is an independent and voluntary body. It decides which new product groups are added and discusses and approves the basic award criteria proposed by the UBA after the expert hearings. This decision-making body comprises 15 representatives from environmental and consumer associations, trade unions, industry, the trade, crafts, local authorities, academia, the media, churches, young people and the German federal states. RAL gGmbH (a non-profit GmbH ) is the awarding body for the environmental label. As an independent organisation, it checks compliance with the requirements after the submission of the product-specific application by a company and concludes contracts on the use of the Blue Angel with the companies. Praise and criticism The Blue Angel is not a label that certifies that a product is completely harmless. The products labelled with the Blue Angel are more environmentally friendly and healthier than other products that have the same fitness for use and quality in the respective product group. Therefore, these products represent the “lesser evil” with respect to environmental pollution in line with the motto: as little as possible, as much as necessary. Specific requirements are defined for each product group. This means that those criteria that are relevant for