Environmental claims under scrutiny: The latest recommendations

In October last year, the Consumer Ombudsman published new recommendations to help companies that plan to promote their goods and services using environmental claims. The publication includes specific recommendations on how companies can avoid breaching the ban on misleading advertisements.

Misleading statements are forbidden

The Marketing Act bans misleading advertisements, which means that companies must not provide incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information that could distort consumers' economic behaviour.

To comply with the regulations, companies must ensure their communication is precise, accurate, and relevant—this applies to environmental marketing as well as other forms of marketing.

Specifically, for environmental marketing, this prohibition requires that claims be accurate, precise, relevant, balanced, and clearly stated to not mislead consumers about the product's or company’s environmental impact.

No room for vague claims

Companies must be able to substantiate any environmental claims they use in marketing. This means statements such as “eco-friendly” or “green” cannot be used without concrete evidence to verify the accuracy of the statement. Companies must be prepared to provide relevant data or certifications to support such claims.

The no-go list

The Consumer Ombudsman's recommendations include several fictive examples to illustrate when environmental marketing may conflict with the Marketing Act. For instance, the legality of the statement “same quality product, but with less environmental impact” could depend on whether the product holds one or more official certifications, such as the Nordic Swan Ecolabel or the EU Ecolabel.

Nothing is pre-approved

It is important to note that the publication is not a whitelist of acceptable statements and claims. Ultimately, the courts determine whether a law has been breached. The recommendations reflect the Consumer Ombudsman's interpretation of the rules under the Marketing Act, and compliance will always depend on a specific assessment of the context. Therefore, companies must ensure that their claims are accurate and appropriately tailored to avoid misleading practices.

IUNO’s opinion

At IUNO, we believe that the Consumer Ombudsman’s recommendations are an excellent tool for helping companies ensure transparency and accountability in their environmental marketing. The field has seen rapid development in recent years, and these recommendations provide a welcomed overview and useful examples for companies navigating the rules.

[The Danish Consumer Ombudsman’s recommendations on companies’ environmental marketing published on October 24, 2024].