{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "supplier-green-claims",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/supplier-green-claims/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/supplier-green-claims.md",
  "title": "We repeat our supplier's environmental claims",
  "description": "Copying a supplier's eco claims into your listings makes them your claims under consumer law. What to ask the supplier for and which claims to drop.",
  "answer": "Under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the claims in your own listings, catalogues and ads are your commercial practice, even when a supplier wrote them. A court or authority can ask you for evidence and treat a claim as inaccurate without it. Ask the supplier for the evidence behind each claim, check that it covers your product, and drop what you cannot support.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "sustainability-claims",
    "label": "Sustainability and green claims"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "importer",
      "label": "Importer"
    },
    {
      "id": "distributor",
      "label": "Distributor"
    },
    {
      "id": "online-seller",
      "label": "Online seller"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [],
  "path": [
    "greenwashing-scanner",
    "knowledge-articles"
  ],
  "trigger": "A supplier's product sheet, data feed or packaging artwork carries environmental claims or labels, and you are about to copy them into your own listings, catalogue or marketing",
  "keep": null,
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "Environmental claims are regulated as commercial practices. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Directive 2005/29/EC, covers any act, omission, representation or commercial communication, including advertising and marketing, by a trader that is directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a product to consumers (Article 2(d)). A trader is any person acting for purposes relating to its business, and anyone acting in its name or on its behalf (Article 2(b)). An environmental claim is any voluntary message or representation, in text, image, symbol, label or name, that states or implies a positive or reduced environmental impact (Article 2(o)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "None of these definitions depends on who first wrote the claim. When an importer, distributor or webshop copies a supplier's description into its own product page, the claim reaches consumers as part of that seller's commercial practice. A practice is misleading if it contains false information or deceives the average consumer, even through its overall presentation, about main characteristics that now expressly include environmental characteristics and circularity aspects (Article 6(1)(b)).",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Evidence decides the outcome when a claim is questioned. Courts and administrative authorities can require the trader to furnish evidence of the accuracy of factual claims and consider them inaccurate if the evidence is missing or insufficient (Article 12). A reseller that holds only the supplier's marketing text has nothing to furnish.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Directive (EU) 2024/825 added practices that are unfair in all circumstances, applied from 27 September 2026 (Article 4(1)). They include displaying a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities (Annex I point 2a), generic environmental claims without recognised excellent environmental performance (point 4a), whole-product claims that concern only one aspect (point 4b), and presenting a requirement that applies by law to all products in the category as a distinctive feature, such as a supplier's 'free from' claim for a substance already banned (point 10a; recital 15). Recital 10 adds that claims such as 'sustainable', 'conscious' or 'responsible' cannot rest on recognised excellent environmental performance alone, because they also concern social characteristics. Recital 7 adds that, before displaying a sustainability label, the trader should check that the scheme meets minimum conditions of transparency and credibility.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Claims aimed only at business buyers fall under Directive 2006/114/EC, which protects traders against misleading advertising and gives courts the same power to require evidence of factual claims (Articles 1 and 7).",
      "sources": [
        3
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "List the claims that come from suppliers",
      "text": "Go through the supplier product sheets, data feeds, images and packaging artwork you reuse. Note each environmental statement, symbol and label, and where it ends up in your own channels: product pages, marketplace listings, catalogues and ads.",
      "item": "greenwashing-scanner"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ask the supplier for the evidence behind each claim",
      "text": "Request the test reports, certificates, calculations or scheme documents that support the exact wording, and ask which product, model and period they cover. A claim you cannot back with evidence on request is a claim you cannot defend."
    },
    {
      "name": "Check every sustainability label against its scheme",
      "text": "A sustainability label may only be shown if it rests on a certification scheme with independent third-party monitoring, or was set up by a public authority. Ask for the certificate or licence number and check that it covers the product you sell. A supplier's own 'eco' logo with no scheme behind it cannot be displayed."
    },
    {
      "name": "Rewrite or drop generic and whole-product wording",
      "text": "Replace words such as 'eco-friendly' or 'green' with the specific fact the evidence shows, stated on the same medium, or remove them. Words such as 'sustainable', 'conscious' or 'responsible' also cover social characteristics and cannot rest on environmental performance alone. Make sure a claim about one part, such as the packaging, does not read as a claim about the whole product."
    },
    {
      "name": "Put evidence duties into the supply agreement",
      "text": "Agree in writing that the supplier tells you before claims, materials or certificates change, and that it provides the evidence on request. What the supplier must deliver is set by your contract, not by the directive.",
      "item": "knowledge-articles"
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "A list of supplier-originated claims and the channels where you use them",
      "from": "Purchasing and e-commerce",
      "ground": "Directive 2005/29/EC Article 2(b), (d) and (o)"
    },
    {
      "name": "The supplier's evidence file per claim you keep",
      "from": "The supplier, checked by you",
      "ground": "Directive 2005/29/EC Article 12"
    },
    {
      "name": "The certificate or licence behind each sustainability label you display",
      "from": "The certification scheme or the public authority that runs the label",
      "ground": "Directive 2005/29/EC Article 2(r) and Annex I point 2a"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "The claim is treated as your commercial practice",
      "text": "The directive covers any representation or commercial communication by a trader directly connected with the promotion or sale of a product, and a trader includes anyone acting in the name of or on behalf of a trader (Directive 2005/29/EC Article 2(b) and (d)). The definitions contain no exception for wording another business supplied.",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Without evidence the claim counts as inaccurate",
      "text": "Courts and authorities can require the trader to furnish evidence of the accuracy of factual claims, and treat the claims as inaccurate if the evidence is not furnished or is insufficient (Directive 2005/29/EC Article 12).",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Uncertified sustainability labels are banned outright",
      "text": "Displaying a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or not established by public authorities is unfair in all circumstances (Directive 2005/29/EC Annex I point 2a, added by Directive (EU) 2024/825).",
      "source": 2
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Can we rely on the supplier's word?",
      "a": "For some practices on durability, software updates and spare parts, the recitals of Directive (EU) 2024/825 expect sellers that are not producers to rely on reliable information, for example from the producer (recitals 17, 19, 20 and 24). They set no comparable rule for environmental claims, and under Article 12 of the UCPD the authority can ask you for the evidence. Keep the evidence itself, not only an assurance."
    },
    {
      "q": "Is the supplier's certificate enough to show a label?",
      "a": "Only if the label belongs to a certification scheme that is open to all traders, was developed with experts and stakeholders, handles non-compliance and is monitored by an independent third party, or is established by a public authority such as the EU Ecolabel (Directive 2005/29/EC Article 2(r)). The certificate must cover the product you sell."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do the same rules apply when we sell to business customers?",
      "a": "The UCPD protects consumers. Advertising aimed at traders falls under Directive 2006/114/EC on misleading and comparative advertising, which also lets courts require evidence of factual claims and treat them as inaccurate if it is missing or insufficient (Article 7)."
    },
    {
      "q": "Since when do the stricter green claim rules apply?",
      "a": "Member States had to apply the rules of Directive (EU) 2024/825 from 27 September 2026 (Article 4(1)). Listings built earlier from supplier data are assessed under the rules in force when they reach consumers, so older product pages need the same check."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices (consolidated text of 27 September 2026)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02005L0029-20260927",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Directive (EU) 2024/825 on empowering consumers for the green transition",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024L0825",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Directive 2006/114/EC concerning misleading and comparative advertising",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32006L0114",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "green-claim-no-evidence",
    "own-eco-label",
    "website-claims-audit",
    "supplier-material-data",
    "retailer-proof"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-04",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}