Proposal for a Green Claims Directive

The reason for the proposed directive is, among other things, a Commission study from 2020 showing that 53.3% of the examined environmental claims in the EU were deemed to be too vague, misleading, or unfounded, and that 40% were unsubstantiated. 

Consequently, the purpose of the proposed the directive is to counter fake environmental claims and ensure that consumers receive trustworthy information about the environmental properties of the products at the point of sale. The proposed directive also aims at regulating the proliferation of public and private environmental labels.  

At the same time, the proposed directive is to help companies making an excellent environmental effort to get better possibilities of standing out and avoid exposure to unfair competition.

According to the proposed directive, companies making green claims about their products or services must meet minimum requirements for substantiation of such claims and how they communicate them. 

The rules concern claims such as, for instance, "T-shirt produced from reused plastic bottles", "CO2 compensated delivery", "Packaging produced from 30% reused plastic", or "Water-friendly sunscreen".  

The proposed directive supplements the proposed directive from March 2022 on strengthening consumers' resilience for a green transition by laying down more specific rules for environmental claims on top of the general prohibition against misleading consumers.

According to the general legislative process the proposal is now to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, and consequently the time horizon for the potential adoption of the directive is still uncertain.

Do you want to know more?

If you want to know more about the rules governing greenwashing, please contact Plesner's Marketing Law and Consumer Law team.