Green Button to consolidate issuing body functions within the Secretariat

After many years of successful cooperation, the Green Button’s collaboration with its issuing body RAL gGmbH ended in late June 2026. We would like to express our sincere thanks for the trusted partnership and the important contribution RAL has made over many years to the success of the Green Button. 

As the issuing body, RAL provided comprehensive advice and support to companies throughout the label licensing process, organized license issuance, managed the Green Button portal, and oversaw market surveillance for the Green Button. Through its commitment, the issuing body has played a key role in ensuring the label’s quality and credibility. 

To make processes even more efficient in the future and further strengthen direct exchange with companies, the previous tasks of the issuing body will largely be consolidated within the Green Button Secretariat. This will shorten decision pathways and enable even closer support for our licensees and applicants. 

One exception is the conclusion of license agreements: the management of the licensing process will in future be handled by our partner Assurance Services International (ASI). 

The issuing body is referenced in several normative Green Button documents. The Secretariat will now largely act as the issuing body, so no changes are required to the defined rules. In view of the Green Button Standard 3.0, normative documents that name the awarding body as an individual actor within the Green Button system will not be amended. Instead, a document explains the new allocation of responsibilities and applies in addition. You can find a link to this document here: https://gruener-knopf.de/media/1318/download