14% of consumers don’t believe that sustainable products are truly sustainable due to misleading claims
The Growth Potential of Environmental Change, Simon-Kucher
How do you guarantee that your products are truly sustainable, and not just greenwashing?
Requirements introduced by legislation
The proposal for a directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition aims to ensure consumers get adequate information on products’ durability and reparability and protection against unfair commercial practices such as:
- Greenwashing practices
- Early obsolescence practices
- The use of unreliable and non-transparent sustainability labels and information tools.
Who must comply
All economic operators placing textile products on the EU market, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers.
Key law specifications
- Do not mislead consumers about environmental and social impacts, durability and reparability of products.
- When making comparisons, provide information on the method used, the products and providers covered.
- Prohibition of environmental claims when the environmental performance of the product cannot be proven.
Penalties for non-compliance
- MEPs agreed with the Commission that companies should submit any future environmental marketing claims for approval before using them.
- The claims would be assessed by accredited verifiers within 30 days, according to adopted text.
- Companies who break the rules may be excluded from procurements, lose their revenues and face a fine of at least at 4% of their annual turnover.
Take action with BCome
- Get more than 30 sustainability insights per product to support your communication.
- Compare your products with the industry standard through reliable methodologies.
- Guarantee the sustainability of your products through third-party verification.
Timeline for its entry into force and compliance
March 2026
Transposition into national law
After publication in the Official Journal, member states will have 24 months to transpose it into national law.
March 2024
Formal adoption of the Directive
Final act published in Official Journal.
February 2024
Adoption of the Directive by the Council
Final approval for the Directive to Empower Consumers for the Green Transition.
November 2023
Provisional agreement on Directive on Empowering Consumers
Interinstitutional negotiations conclude with a provisional agreement.
March 2022
Adoption of the proposal by the European Commission
The European Commission proposed this directive amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU.
