Safeguards against misleading claims about ecology

On Tuesday, the European Parliament confirmed its position on EU rules that would help prevent misleading consumers and establish conditions for substantiating claims about the ecological properties of products.

The EU has already recently adopted rules that prohibit misleading consumers about the organic properties of products. The draft rules adopted today set out the requirements and deadlines for providing evidence of the greenness of products, such as “environmentally friendly”, “biodegradable” or “requires less water”. EU countries should designate an authority that will be responsible for issuing permits to use these claims. MEPs suggest setting a 30-day deadline to verify the claims.

MEPs propose to further ban the use of green claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment and which are based on the use of carbon credits. An exception would apply to claims intended to reflect residual greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to avoid a disproportionate administrative burden, the new rules would not apply to very small companies (having nine or fewer employees and generating up to two million euros in annual turnover), and small and medium-sized companies would have an additional year to prepare for the application of the rules. Fines of up to 4 percent would apply for non-compliance. from the company’s annual turnover or the opportunity for companies to participate in public procurement is prevented.

EP rapporteur Andrus Ansip (Renew Europe, Estonia) said: “Studies show that more than half of claims about the greenness of products are unclear, misleading or unfounded. We cannot talk about satisfied consumers if a number of green claims are false. We cannot talk about a level playing field for our traders if some traders are cheating. I believe we have approved balanced rules today that will provide clarity for our consumers and merchants.”

Another EP speaker, Cyrus Engerer (Socialists and Democrats, Malta) added: It is necessary to prevent misleading consumers and the new rules will help achieve this. We will ensure that businesses have the necessary tools to respect sustainability and scientifically substantiate claims about the ecological properties of products.”

The draft EU rules, which became the primary position of the European Parliament, were approved by 467 MEPs, 65 opposed, and 74 abstained. Further harmonization of rules with the EU Council after June 9. the upcoming European Parliament elections will be taken over by the newly elected Parliament.

According to information from the EP office in Lithuania