EU Commission to withdraw law against greenwashing

Brussels – The EU Commission wants to stop a legislative initiative on minimum standards against misleading environmental advertising claims. The Commission intends to withdraw the proposal, said a spokesperson for the authority in Brussels.

As for possible reasons, the Commission later provided in writing: “The current discussions on the proposal are contrary to the Commission’s simplification agenda.” The initiative could affect 30 million micro-enterprises. 

The German conservative CDU, to which German Chancellor Friedrich Merz belongs, praised the Commission’s approach. “The planned regulations were disproportionately complex,” said the internal market policy spokesperson of the EVP group, Andreas Schwab. They caused a lot of bureaucracy and placed a heavy burden on small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the EU, only the Commission has the right to propose laws and withdraw them from the legislative process. The proposals are usually negotiated by the EU countries and the European Parliament before anything can come into force.

Negotiations are still ongoing

In fact, negotiations are still ongoing between the EU states and the European Parliament regarding the initiative – the next and possibly last round of negotiations is still planned for Monday, according to information from the Parliament.

Previously, the EVP group in the European Parliament, which also includes the German parties CDU and CSU, had urged the Commission in a letter to withdraw the legislative proposal. The letter, which was previously reported on by the portal “Euractiv,” criticizes, among other things, that the potential impacts of the initiative were not sufficiently examined.

Consumer protection in focus

The aim of the planned rules is that consumers who buy a product advertised as environmentally friendly can be sure that it really is. Advertising claims such as “ocean-friendly T-shirts” or “100 percent CO2-compensated deliveries” should be more closely scrutinized by the law. 

This is intended to prevent so-called greenwashing – where companies market products or services as environmentally or climate-friendly, even though they may not be. According to a 2020 study by the EU authority, more than half of the claims about the climate-friendliness of goods were vague, misleading, or unfounded.

Foodwatch called for a commitment to the legislative initiative: “The Commission must not backtrack now in favor of the corporations that want to give their climate-damaging products a green facade. This undermines people’s trust in politics.”

Outcome of the initiative still unclear

How things will proceed is still open. From the SPD, it was said that there is no consensus within the Commission on whether the legislative proposal should really be withdrawn. Among others, EU Commissioners Stéphane Séjourné (Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industry Strategy) and Teresa Ribera (Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Fair, and Competitive Transition) are against it. They were surprised by the Commission’s announcement.

The Parliament’s lead negotiator for the law, Delara Burkhardt (SPD), wants to conclude the initiative quickly. “We see it as a political affront to interfere in the work of the Parliament and the EU states so shortly before the conclusion of the negotiations,” she said.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) welcomed the EU Commission’s decision. ICC-Germany Secretary General Oliver Wieck emphasized that especially in times when companies face great challenges, it is right not to burden them with additional costs and bureaucracy. “Today’s step shows that the concerns of the economy have been heard and taken seriously.” (June 22)