Greenwashing and environmental claims. What changes in advertising and on packaging from 27 September 2026?

The ECGT Directive prohibits general eco-claims without evidence. Find out what changes from 27 September 2026 in advertising, on packaging and labels.

Directive (EU) 2024/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 February 2024 (hereinafter: the ECGT Directive) changes the rules for using environmental messaging in consumer trade. The provisions implementing the Directive are to apply from 27 September 2026. The change affects everyone who uses an environmental claim in advertising, on packaging, on a website or in a product sheet.

What does the change consist of?

The ECGT Directive does not create a separate regime but amends two pillars of consumer law: Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices and Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights. Both, like the ECGT Directive itself, have the character of maximum harmonisation, meaning that a Member State may not adopt solutions that are either more lenient or stricter. The Polish legislature therefore transposes the EU solutions essentially one-to-one.

The key element is the extension by twelve new entries of the catalogue of so-called black practices — practices considered unfair in all circumstances. Their application does not require an examination of whether a specific case resulted in a distortion of the consumer's decision. The mere use of such a practice determines its unfairness. New concepts also emerge, including environmental claim, general environmental claim, and sustainability label.

Which practices end up on the blacklist?

From a business perspective, the four most significant prohibitions are as follows.

• General environmental claim without demonstrating effectiveness. It is prohibited to make a general environmental claim if the trader is unable to demonstrate the recognised high environmental performance relevant to that claim.
• Extending one aspect to cover the whole. Environmental claims may not be made in relation to an entire product or an entire business activity if they in fact concern only a specific aspect of the product or a particular type of activity. Packaging made from recycled material does not make the product inside it environmentally friendly.
• Sustainability label without a certification scheme. It is prohibited to display a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or has not been established by public authorities. This strikes at own logos and stamps created for marketing purposes.
• Climate neutrality based on offsetting. It is prohibited to claim that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions if the basis for that claim is the offsetting of emissions.

The catalogue also covers claims about future improvements in environmental performance made without clear and verifiable commitments subject to independent review, as well as a group of practices related to premature obsolescence of goods. It is worth noting that the new provisions concern not only environmental matters but also the durability and repairability of products.

Which slogans become risky?

The Directive itself gives examples of general environmental claims. These include terms such as "environmentally friendly", "ecological", "green", "nature friendly", "climate friendly", "gentle on the environment", "energy efficient", "biodegradable" and "bio-based".

What is significant is what the provisions do not introduce. These slogans are not banned as such. They are banned when the trader cannot demonstrate the effectiveness behind them. The emphasis therefore shifts from the content of the message to its documentation. A separate matter is the designation "organic" within the meaning of organic production legislation, which has its own legal basis in Regulation (EU) 2018/848 and its own control system.

What changes beyond the blacklist?

The Directive also modifies the general construction of misleading practices. It has been clarified that information that is false or misleading as to the environmental and social characteristics of a product and its circular-economy aspects — including durability, repairability and recyclability — is also misleading. In practice this means that a claim that does not fall within any entry on the blacklist may still be found to be unfair if it creates in the consumer a false picture of the product's environmental impact.

The second amended Directive adds information obligations. In contracts concluded at a distance or off-premises, the consumer must receive, before the contract is concluded, clear information including about the durability of the product and the possibility of its repair.

Why is this above all an evidentiary challenge?

The new provisions transfer environmental claims from the realm of creative work to the realm of compliance. Evidence must exist before the message reaches the consumer, and not be assembled only in response to an authority's request. This changes the order of work: documentation first, then the slogan.

The consequences fall into three layers. First, you are liable for claims you merely repeat. If a supplier states that packaging is biodegradable and you transfer that information to the label, your company is liable for it — for example in a dispute with a consumer or in proceedings before the UOKiK. It is worth ensuring appropriate declarations and documents in commercial relationships.

Second, for private-label products it is your label on the packaging, so you are the addressee of the allegation, regardless of who manufactured the product. Third, it is worth determining how liability is distributed in the relationship with, for example, a marketing agency or the entity responsible for the packaging design, given the existing risk of incurring liability.

Separately, one further matter is worth noting. Declarations made on packaging should be consistent with the conformity documentation compiled for the purpose of fulfilling obligations related to PPWR.

What actions are worth considering?

• Content audit. Not only advertising, but also packaging, labels, the website, product sheets, catalogues and descriptions in online shops.
• Verification of existing documentation. For each claim, establish what document, study or certificate you can use to support it and whether the evidence relates precisely to what you are communicating.
• Abandoning general slogans or making them more specific. A concrete, measurable and documented claim is safer than a catch-all slogan, even if it sounds less impressive.
• Verification of labelling. Establish whether the marks used are based on a certification scheme or come from public authorities and withdraw those created solely for marketing purposes.
• Audit of contracts with counterparties. In relation to declarations and documents confirming the properties of products and packaging, or in relation to liability for the content of messages and communications.