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Article European Union: New Directive to Protect Consumers from Greenwashing Enters into Force

On March 27, 2024, Directive (EU) 2024/825 on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition entered into force. The new directive amends the existing Consumer Rights Directive and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive to provide consumers with better information about product lifespan and reparability and to protect them from greenwashing. Greenwashing is “the practice of giving a false impression of the environmental impact or benefits of a product, which can mislead consumers.” The directive is supposed to “support the changes in consumers’ behaviour to achieve climate and environmental objectives under the “European Green Deal,” which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Directives are binding only in terms of the result to be achieved, leaving the means of achieving it to the member states. (Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) art. 288, para. 3.) The member states must transpose the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition into national law by March 27, 2026. (Directive (EU) 2024/825, art. 3, para. 1.)

Overview of Notable Amendments of the Consumer Rights Directive

The Consumer Rights Directive differentiates between distance and off-premises contracts on the one hand and other types of contracts on the other. It states that traders must provide certain enumerated information about the product or regarding the existence and the conditions of after-sales services to consumers before they become bound by a contract other than a distance or an off-premises contract. (Consumer Rights Directive art. 5, para. 1; art. 6, para.1.)

The Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition amends both of those types of contracts. First, it requires traders to include specific information about a product’s durability and reparability. This is meant to enable consumers to make better-informed decisions. (Directive (EU) 2024/825, recital 25, art. 2, paras. 1, 2.) For example, traders are now required to provide information about repair services. If repair services are not available, traders must instead provide information about the availability and estimated costs necessary to keep the goods in conformity if the producers provided this information to them. This must also include the procedure of ordering spare parts. (Art. 2, paras. 2(c), 3(d).) For goods with digital elements, for digital content, and for digital services, the directive obligates traders to provide information about the period during which the producer or the provider provides software updates. (Art. 2, para. 3(c).)

In addition, the directive intends to inform consumers about the availability of environmentally friendly delivery options — for example, the delivery by cargo bike or electric vehicle. (Recital 24, art. 2, para. 3(a).)

Lastly, consumers must be informed that durability guarantees are provided for certain goods by using harmonized labels. (Recitals 27; 28, art. 2, paras. 2(b), 3(c).) The labeling must be displayed prominently on the packaging or, in case of online sales, next to the image of goods so that consumers can easily identify which goods are covered by a commercial durability guarantee provided by the manufacturer. (Recital 28, art. 2, para. 5.)

Overview of Notable Amendments of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

The purpose of the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive is to help consumers make better-informed decisions. (Recital 3.) It therefore expands the list of misleading commercial practices under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive so that consumers are not misled about a product’s environmental or social characteristics or its circularity aspects. (Art. 1, para. 2; Unfair Commercial Practices Directive art. 6, paras. 1, 2.) According to the amendment, a commercial practice can be misleading when it contains false information about the reparability or recyclability of the product.

In addition, the directive amends the list of unfair commercial practices. Environmental claims, specifically those related to climate, are considered to be unfair commercial practices unless they are supported by clear, objective, publicly available, and verifiable commitments and targets given by the trader set out in an implementation plan. The implementation plan must be regularly verified by an independent third-party expert. It is a case-by-case decision whether such claims constitute unfair commercial practices. (Directive (EU) 2024/825, recital 4, art. 1, para. 2(b).)

Lastly, the annex of the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive amends Annex I of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. The amendment prohibits the use of sustainability labels when they “are not based on a certification scheme or which have not been established by public authorities.” (Recital 7, annex, para. 1.)

Related Proposal for a Directive on Green Claims

In March 2023, the European Commission also adopted a proposal for a Directive on Green Claims, which “complements and further operationalizes” the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition. Its aim is to prevent greenwashing and establish a verification system for companies making environmentally related claims. (Proposal for a Directive on Green Claims, recital 14, art. 10.) Companies must provide evidence and receive preapproval from EU-assigned verifiers before using such claims for their products. (Art. 8.)

The proposal requires companies to substantiate any claims they make about environmental aspects or performance of their products and organizations using solid, science-based, and verifiable methods. (Recital 23, arts. 3, 4.)

Prepared by Eva Dauke, Law Library Intern, under the supervision of Jenny Gesley, Foreign Law Specialist

April 30, 2024

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Gesley, Jenny. European Union: New Directive to Protect Consumers from Greenwashing Enters into Force. 2024. Web Page. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2024-04-29/european-union-new-directive-to-protect-consumers-from-greenwashing-enters-into-force/.

APA citation style:

Gesley, J. (2024) European Union: New Directive to Protect Consumers from Greenwashing Enters into Force. [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2024-04-29/european-union-new-directive-to-protect-consumers-from-greenwashing-enters-into-force/.

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Gesley, Jenny. European Union: New Directive to Protect Consumers from Greenwashing Enters into Force. 2024. Web Page. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2024-04-29/european-union-new-directive-to-protect-consumers-from-greenwashing-enters-into-force/>.