European Parliament: New law against green graphics and misleading information about products | News

The directive was adopted on Wednesday by a vote of 593 votes to 21, with 14 abstentions. It should protect consumers from misleading marketing practices and help them make better purchasing choices. To this end, unfair marketing practices such as green paint and planned aging of goods should be added to the EU list of prohibited trade practices.

More accurate and reliable advertising

Most importantly, the new rules make product labeling clearer and more reliable by prohibiting generic environmental claims such as “eco-friendly”, “natural”, “biodegradable”, “climate neutral” and “eco-friendly” without evidence.

Sustainability labels must also be regulated. They are confusing for consumers: they are in more and more products and there is no comparative data. From now on, only sustainability labels based on official certification systems or established by public authorities will be allowed.

It is also prohibited to claim that a product has a neutral, low or positive impact on the environment due to offsetting emissions.

Focus on sustainability

Another important goal of the new law is to get producers and consumers to focus more on the sustainability of goods. In the future, warranty information will be clearer and the new, common nomenclature will make it easier to choose goods with a longer warranty.

The new rules also ban unsubstantiated claims about durability, such as a washing machine lasting 5,000 washes, if this is not true under normal circumstances. It will also be prohibited to encourage consumers to replace consumables earlier than is strictly necessary, which is often the case, for example, ink cartridges. You must also not claim that goods are repairable when they are not.

quotes

Parliament Rapporteur Biljana Borzan (Social Democratic Party, Croatia) said: “This law will change the daily life of all Europeans! We will take a step away from the culture of corrosion, make marketing more transparent and fight premature obsolescence of goods. People will be able to choose products that are more durable, repairable and sustainable thanks to labels.” “And trusted advertising. Most importantly, companies can no longer fool people by saying plastic bottles are okay because the company planted trees somewhere – or saying something is sustainable without explaining how they did it. This is a big win for all of us!”

Press Conference

Rapporteur Bilyana Borzan will hold a press conference on Wednesday at 2:30 pm in Strasbourg. It can be watched live online here Journalists who wish to ask questions can get in touch here.

next step

The directive must now be finally approved by the Council, after which it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. EU countries then have 24 months to incorporate it into national legislation.

background

The new directive is intended to work with the upcoming directive Environmental claims guidanceThis is what is currently being discussed in the parliamentary committee. This guidance will be more specific and will provide more detailed terms for how environmental claims can be used.