'Green claims' directive: Protecting consumers from greenwashing

On 6 March 2024, the EU published n the Official Journal  the first directive to combat greenwashing, which was adopted by the EU legislation institutions in February 2024 and will enter into force in 20 days, i.e. on 26 March 2024. Member States now have 24 months to implement the new rules into their national law. This means that the new directive has to be implemented into national law by the Member States by 27 March 2026 and will become binding on 27 September 2026.

The new Directive aims to ban greenwashing and misleading product information, in line with EU’s objectives regarding circular, green, and clean economy.

It would apply to voluntary explicit environmental claims and environmental labelling schemes, which are not regulated by any other EU acts, such as Regulation (EC)No 66/2010 (EU ecolabel), Regulation (EU) 2018/848 (organic products), Regulation (EC)No 1221/2009 (Community ecomanagement and audit scheme (EMAS)), or the future regulation establishing an EU certification framework for carbon removals.

It is important to follow how Member states will adopt such rules. Stay tuned!