On February 20, 2024, the European Parliament and Council formally approved a Directive that will amend the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC and the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU. This amendment will make significant changes to what manufacturers, importers and distributors are allowed to communicate in the way of environmental claims and adds requirements for durability and repairability to prevent early obsolescence of products and to allow users to use third-party consumables (e.g. printer ink). The Council’s approval was the last step required before publishing the Directive – which was subsequently published on March 6th, 2024[1].
Requirements start to come into effect on September 27, 2026.
An overview of the misleading claims that are prohibited was provided in the October 2023 ECD Environmental Report. ECD Compliance will be assessing the final Directive and providing a summary of the implications in an upcoming environmental report.
[1] EU Directive on greenwashing, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202400825