EU PLANS STRICTER REGULATIONS FOR GREEN CLAIMS
By introducing new European Union (EU)-wide standards for environmental claims, the European Commission (EC) wants to create more transparent rules to prevent greenwashing. The draft Green Claims Directive, published by the EC on 22 March 2023, is intended to establish clear legal rules for when such claims are lawful.
New requirements for advertising with sustainability claims
Tackling the climate crisis poses growing challenges for countries and companies alike. The latter are increasingly recognising their responsibility to change their manufacturing processes and produce products in a more ecological and sustainable way. When browsing store shelves, consumers are confronted with a wide variety of claims from manufacturers about how environmentally friendly their products are, ranging from ‘climate friendly’ or ‘climate neutral’ to ‘sustainably produced’.
To date, there has been no consistent regulation of these environmental claims and sustainability labels, which exposes companies to considerable liability risks. These often come in the form of unfair competition lawsuits aimed at forcing companies to refrain from certain sustainability-related advertising claims. For example, based on the ban on misleading advertising, Environmental Action Germany (DUH) currently has 15 cases pending before various German courts against a number of companies in connection with the sustainability claims made in its product advertising.
In the interest of greater legal clarity and to make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions, the EC presented a proposal for a directive on the substantiation and communication of such environmental claims on 22 March 2023. The aim of the Green Claims Directive is to, for the first time, create uniform, binding standards within the EU and to specifically regulate the requirements for the verifiability of green claims and the use of ecolabels.
Jan-Mar 2024 issue
Gleiss Lutz