We made a green claim and cannot document it

Environmental claims are governed by consumer law. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Directive 2005/29/EC, prohibits unfair commercial practices (Article 5(1)), and a practice is misleading if it contains false information or deceives, or is likely to deceive, the average consumer, even when the information is factually correct, including through its overall presentation (Article 6(1)). The main characteristics it lists include environmental or social characteristics and circularity aspects such as durability, reparability and recyclability (Article 6(1)(b), as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/825).^[1][2]

Evidence is where many claims fail. Under Article 12, Member States give courts and administrative authorities the power to require the trader to furnish evidence of the accuracy of factual claims, and to consider those claims inaccurate if the evidence demanded is not furnished or is deemed insufficient. The directive also lets persons with a legitimate interest, including competitors, take action against unfair practices (Article 11(1)). A claim that was published without an evidence file is therefore a claim that cannot be defended when someone asks.^[1]

Directive (EU) 2024/825 made several green claims unlawful in all circumstances. Member States had to adopt the measures by 27 March 2026 and apply them from 27 September 2026 (Article 4(1)). Annex I to the UCPD now lists, among others, generic environmental claims for which the trader cannot demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim (point 4a), claims about the entire product or business that concern only one aspect (point 4b), and claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive greenhouse gas impact because of offsetting (point 4c). For these, the question is not whether the consumer was misled; the practice is unfair as such (Article 5(5)).^[1][2]

The recitals give examples. 'Environmentally friendly', 'eco-friendly', 'green', 'climate friendly', 'biodegradable' and 'biobased' are generic claims when not specified on the same medium. 'Climate-friendly packaging' is generic, while '100 % of energy used to produce this packaging comes from renewable sources' is specific (Directive (EU) 2024/825 recital 9). Recognised excellent environmental performance means compliance with the EU Ecolabel, an officially recognised EN ISO 14024 scheme, or top performance under other Union law (UCPD Article 2(s)).^[2]

A separate Green Claims Directive was proposed by the Commission in March 2023 to set detailed substantiation and verification rules. On 4 October 2026 EUR-Lex lists procedure 2023/0085(COD) as ongoing, with first-reading steps and no adopted act, so it is not law. Penalties for UCPD infringements are set nationally. Where they are imposed in coordinated enforcement under Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2394, fines must be possible with a maximum of at least 4 % of the trader's annual turnover in the Member States concerned, or at least EUR 2 million where turnover data are not available (Article 13(3) and (4)).^[3][1]