Environmental claims on garments and in marketing
Generic claims, offset-based neutrality claims and self-made eco labels are banned unless substantiated.
Directive (EU) 2024/825, amending the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Annex I, points 2a and 4a to 4c)
Applies in every Member State since September 2026. The separate Green Claims Directive proposal was withdrawn in June 2025.
The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive is adopted law and has applied across the EU since September 2026. It works through consumer protection law: national authorities enforce it. The withdrawal of the separate Green Claims Directive in June 2025 changed the substantiation procedure, not the ban.
What is a banned practice
- Generic environmental claims with no recognised excellent performance behind them: "sustainable", "eco-friendly", "green", "conscious", "responsible".
- Claims that a product is climate neutral, carbon neutral or similar when the claim rests on offsetting emissions.
- Sustainability labels not based on a certification scheme or established by a public authority.
- A claim about the whole product, or the whole business, when it is true of only one aspect or one activity.
- Durability claims the product cannot back with evidence.
What stays possible
- Specific, verifiable statements with the evidence referenced where the claim is made: the certified recycled share, the certified organic share, a documented test result.
- Claims through recognised, independently verified certification schemes.
- Comparisons with a clearly defined reference and the method stated.
What to prepare this season
- Audit product pages, labels, hang tags and campaigns for generic words and offset-based neutrality claims.
- Keep the evidence next to the claim: the certificate, the test report, the calculation and its method.
- Say what the garment is made of and how it was tested. Specific beats green.
One record
What the Seamdex record already carries
- Certificates attached to the fibre claims they cover, with validity tracked.
- The robustness and recyclability scores with their method, and the environmental cost calculated with a named method, on the passport.
- A public page per garment where a specific claim can point.
Built around the data set the Commission's researchers have proposed, updated as the delegated act lands. Not a compliance claim: no one can make one before the act exists.
FAQ
Questions on this rule
Sources
- Directive (EU) 2024/825 (EUR-Lex) checked October 2026
- European Commission, empowering consumers for the green transition checked October 2026
Related rules
Regulatory dates last reviewed October 2026. Future dates are expectations, not law. This guide describes the rules; it is not legal advice.
