BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union's Council of Ministers has begun discussions on energy-saving products, eco-labeling and green procurement proposals from the European Commission.

Under the Commission's proposals, the E.U.'s eco-design directive would be expanded to cover items that impact energy, its eco-label program would cover about twice as many product types and its 27 member states would have standard green purchasing guidelines.

Currently, the eco-design directive provides minimum requirements products that use energy must meet to earn an eco-label. The Commission is proposing extending the directive to cover products that can have an impact on energy use, making water-saving taps and insulating windows also eligible for eco-labels.

The Commission has also proposed increasing the product categories that can be covered by the E.U.'s eco-label program. Started in 1992, the program covers 26 product types, and the Commission's proposal would extend that to 40-50 product types, including food and drinks, by 2015.

Another proposal aims to make it easier for member states to implement green purchasing programs and for companies providing green products and services to work within different E.U. countries.

The Commission is asking for the E.U. to adopt a common set of green procurement criteria in order to make it easier for countries to start and operate green purchasing programs. Fourteen of the 27 countries in the E.U. have green procurement policies, and a 2006 study found that only seven were implementing them significantly. The proposal also seeks for half of all purchases to be green, as defined by the common criteria, by 2010.

The French presidency of the E.U. has issued two resolutions on the topics, asking for the study of new environmental labeling, including taking into consideration the carbon footprints of products.