The European Commission is suggesting that the introduction of the Green Claims Directive should be withdrawn from the legislative trialogues. However, the main negotiators intend to continue their work with the hope of a successful conclusion and adoption of the directive. It is still unclear whether the decision to withdraw the proposal will be formally adopted, but it has already caused confusion.
Following the announcement of the European Green Deal, a study was conducted which found that more than half of the green claims in the European Union are misleading, and as many as 40% of the claims are used unfounded. In connection with the results ,in March 2023, a proposal was presented to unify the regulations on environmental claims and green marketing. The proposal included the introduction of minimum requirements for companies and entrepreneurs in the field of: justifying, communicating and verifying environmental claims, and obliged companies to ensure credibility by verifying and documenting the claims used.
The draft of Green Claims Directive was aimed at combating unfair marketing called “greenwashing” by documenting and verifying environmental claims, as well as increasing the transparency of companies in communication with customers or protecting consumers against environmental misleading slogans.
Before starting negotiations, the Commission received a request to consider and withdraw a draft of directive which is an excessive burden on entrepreneurs and run counter to simplification of the rules and increase the competitiveness of European businesses. On Friday, 20.06.2025, a spokesperson for the Commission announced that “in the current situation, the Commission does indeed intend to withdraw the proposal for a directive”. The Commission did not confirm whether it would continue negotiations with the European Parliament and EU countries on this legislation, but added during the trilogue that “the European Parliament had not requested that the negotiations be stopped and would report on the next steps”.
We are therefore waiting for further information on the Green Claims Directive.
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