A Step Forward In Green Marketing Regulation: EU Directives Target Greenwashing And Strengthen Requirements For The Use Of Green Claims And Environmental Labels

• Published date: 03 April 2024
• Subject Matter: Environment, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Environmental Law, Advertising, Marketing & Branding
• Law Firm: Altius
• Author: Mathieu Maniet and François Lambert

At a time when consumers have become increasingly aware of sustainability issues, it is sometimes difficult to find one's way through the various green claims and environmental labels. Recognising this challenge, the European Union has recently enacted a Directive aimed at empowering consumers with the information needed to make sustainable choices: Directive 2024/825, which amends existing Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU to promote sustainable consumption practices and (better) regulate the information that traders must provide to consumers (the "Empowering Consumers Directive"). To complement it, the European Commission is currently working on a new proposal for a Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (the "Green Claims Directive Proposal"). This note briefly explains both.

1. The Empowering Consumers Directive

Clear Communication: Blacklist extension and Harmonised Labels

The Empowering Consumers Directive stresses the importance of clear communication between professionals and consumers, and for consumers to have better information about products' environmental and social aspects.

To this end, the Empowering Consumers Directive strengthens and extends the general ban on misleading environmental claims. For instance, the blacklist of unfair commercial practices has been extended to include and combat greenwashing and programmed obsolescence. As a result, generic environmental claims for which the professional is unable to demonstrate the excellent environmental performance recognised regarding the claim (for example, "climate-friendly" or "environmentally friendly") or environmental claims concerning the product as a whole, when they relate only to one of the product's characteristics, are prohibited. Similarly, in certain cases, claims of carbon neutrality obtained through carbon offsetting will be deemed unfair. The Empowering Consumers Directive also prohibits the use of sustainable development labels not based on official certification.

Consumer Empowerment: Comprehensive Information and Reparability Scores

Several amendments have been introduced to Directive 2011/83/EU concerning consumer rights. Accordingly, producers or traders will have to provide comprehensiveinformation on product durability, repairability and software updates, enabling consumers to make informed choices. Additionally, traders are encouraged to provide repairability scores for goods, fostering transparency and incentivising...