By Paola Furiosi and Francesca Caliri

The upcoming 27 September 2026 marks a crucial date for all businesses that communicate their environmental claims to the market: from that day, the new rules introduced by Directive (EU) 2024/825 – known as the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (“Empowering Directive”) – will become fully applicable in the European Union.

The Directive, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 28 February 2024 and published in the Official Journal on 6 March 2024, amends two pillars of European consumer law: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC) and the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU), to combat greenwashing and misleading commercial practices related to environmental sustainability.

Member States were required to transpose the Directive by 27 March 2026 and, with regard to Italy, transposition into national law was carried out through Legislative Decree 30/2026, published in the Official Gazette on 9 March 2026 and in force since 24 March.

What is greenwashing and why the Directive intervenes

“Greenwashing” refers to the practice of suggesting or creating the impression – through commercial communications, marketing or advertising – that a product or a company has a positive or zero environmental impact, or in any case a lower impact than that of competitors, when this is not true or cannot be verified. A coordinated screening of websites conducted by the Commission in 2021 confirmed the prevalence of vague, exaggerated, false or misleading environmental claims, while a previous Commission study had found that 53.3% of the environmental claims examined (out of a sample of 150) provided vague, misleading or unfounded information about the environmental characteristics of products.

The Empowering Directive addresses this issue by introducing specific rules into European consumer law to combat practices that hinder sustainable consumer choices. In particular, it updates Annex I to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (the so-called blacklist of practices deemed unfair in all circumstances), adding a series of specific prohibitions on greenwashing.

Consequently, from 27 September 2026 the following practices, among others, will be prohibited:

• generic environmental claims: generic environmental claims such as “environmentally friendly”, “ecological”, “green”, “nature’s friend”, “eco-sustainable”, “energy efficient” or “biodegradable” are prohibited when the claimed excellent environmental performance cannot be demonstrated (for example, through the “EU Ecolabel” quality mark or other recognised certifications);
• environmental claims referring to the entire product or the entire business: it is expressly prohibited to make an environmental claim relating to the entire product or the entire activity of the trader when in reality the claim refers only to a specific aspect of the product or to an activity that is not representative of the business. For example, it will no longer be possible to advertise a product as “made from recycled material” if only the packaging – and not the product itself – is manufactured from recycled material;
• claims based on emissions offsetting: claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions based solely on emissions offsetting schemes are prohibited, such as “climate-neutral”, “CO₂ neutral certified” or “reduced climate impact”, where such claims are not supported by clear, objective, publicly accessible and verifiable commitments, accompanied by a detailed and realistic implementation plan;
• non-certified sustainability labels: it is prohibited to display sustainability labels that are not based on an official certification scheme or have not been established by public authorities. This measure aims to reduce the proliferation of self-awarded and unverified labels that create confusion among consumers;
• practices related to premature obsolescence: the blacklist also includes practices of planned or premature obsolescence, including:
  • failing to inform the consumer when a product has a limited lifespan or contains a feature introduced to limit its durability;
  • failing to inform the consumer that the good is designed to be incompatible with spare parts or accessories supplied by third-party manufacturers;
  • presenting goods as repairable when they are not.

New information obligations on durability, repairability and guarantee

In addition to the prohibited practices, the Directive amends the Consumer Rights Directive to ensure that at the point-of-sale consumers receive better pre-contractual information on:

• the durability of the good and its repairability;
• the availability of software updates and their duration (for products with digital elements);
• the consumer’s legal guarantee rights.

To this end, from 27 September 2026 consumers in the EU will be able to see a new information notice and the “GARAN” label – in a harmonised graphic format at European level – which will identify goods covered by commercial durability guarantees from the manufacturer.

Italian case law is consolidating: the Venice Tribunal ruling on green claims

Even before the formal date of application of the new rules, Italian courts have already embraced the new crackdown on environmental communications. In a recent ruling, the Venice Tribunal – in the context of a collective injunction action brought by a consumer association against a major company in the beverage sector – added a new element to the evolution of Italian case law on greenwashing, confirming the progressive raising of the standards required for environmental communication directed at consumers.

One of the most significant aspects of the ruling concerns the relationship between the administrative proceedings before the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) and the collective injunction action before the civil court.

The defendant company had argued that the Authority, through a moral suasion procedure that had concluded, had already examined the same environmental communications, deeming the critical issues to have been overcome following the modifications made to the contested claims. The Tribunal rejected this objection, stating that the AGCM’s activity and the collective injunction action pursue different purposes and operate on autonomous levels: the exercise of the Authority’s public powers does not restrict the right of consumer associations to ask the court to ascertain the unlawfulness of commercial practices and to prohibit them.

This results in the affirmation of a true “dual track” of protection – administrative and judicial – destined to coexist, with the consequence that the closure of proceedings before the AGCM does not prevent the civil court from carrying out its own independent assessment of the correctness of green claims.

Next steps for businesses

With 27 September 2026 now around the corner, businesses are advised to take timely action to ensure their compliance. By way of example, it is recommended to:

• carry out an audit of environmental communications currently in use (websites, packaging, advertising materials, labels), verifying that no claim falls within the practices prohibited by the new blacklist;
• eliminate or reformulate generic claims (“green”, “eco-friendly”, “sustainable”, “climate-neutral”) that cannot be demonstrated with objective evidence and recognised certifications;
• verify the legitimacy of sustainability labels used, ensuring that they are based on certification schemes that comply with the new requirements;
• review communication strategies based on offsetting, ensuring that any climate neutrality claims are accompanied by public commitments, measurable objectives and detailed implementation plans;
• update pre-contractual information on the durability, repairability and guarantee of products, preparing the documentation for the new information notice and the “GARAN” label;
• monitor the status of national transposition, as Member States’ transposition measures may introduce more specific requirements or additional timelines.