Directive (EU) 2024/825
For marketing, product and compliance teams working out what the EU's new green claims rules mean for their content. This page covers what you need to know and ways to avoid running into issues.
What we've seen reported
The ECGT Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/825, amends EU consumer law and lists generic environmental claims such as "eco-friendly" and "green" among practices treated as unfair in all circumstances, unless recognized excellent environmental performance can be shown.1
Last updated October 2026 · General information only, not legal advice. Sources.
What the rules cover
These are the kinds of wording the ECGT Directive and the European Commission's June 2026 Q&A on it describe, and how they tend to show up in real content.1,2
| Phrase or term | In practice |
|---|---|
| "Eco-friendly", "green", "climate friendly", "biodegradable" | Broad green claims on a pack or product page, with no specification on the same medium. |
| "Climate neutral", "CO₂ neutral certified", "carbon positive" | A product described as neutral because the company offsets emissions outside its own value chain. |
| Sustainability labels and trust marks | A homemade "eco" badge, or a label not based on a certification scheme or set up by a public authority. |
| "Made with recycled materials" | Used for the whole product when only one part of it, such as the packaging, qualifies. |
| "Free from…" | Presenting something every product in the category has to meet by law as a selling point. |
| "Net zero by 2040", "climate neutral by 2030" | A future target with no published implementation plan or independent verification behind it. |
| "Lasts for years", "built to last" | A durability promise about usage time or intensity that the product does not live up to in normal use. |
Some companies in the EU have already been challenged over green claims under earlier consumer law.
An online fashion retailer was fined over sustainability claims on its website that the regulator found vague, generic or misleading.
A consumer electronics company was ordered by a regional court, in a ruling open to appeal, to stop advertising a smartwatch as "CO₂ neutral" on the strength of offsetting projects.
Where it goes wrong
One approved claim ends up in many channels, markets and languages. Along the way it gets shortened, translated and reworded, and some versions end up using the very phrases you are trying to avoid.
"Aria 8 cuts heating emissions by up to 60%, independently tested."
How Arbitr helps
Read every version by hand? Or use AI to check what you publish against what you've already approved.
FAQ
Further than the main campaign. The European Commission's Q&A on the ECGT Directive notes that brand names, product names and pack artwork can carry environmental claims too,2 and we usually find the wording hiding in:
Give them two lists: the approved wording, and the phrases your legal team has asked you to avoid, in every language you publish in. With 24 official EU languages, a phrase your English avoids can come straight back in translation, the way "klimafreundlich" did in the example above.
Then ask agencies to send back every market version, not just the master, so you can check your brand wording across markets.
One record per claim saves a lot of searching later. Keep the exact approved wording, the evidence behind it, who approved it and when, and which markets and channels it's cleared for. When a regulator, retailer or journalist asks, you'll have an answer rather than an inbox to dig through.
Rules in other markets are on our environmental claims hub.
Find every live version of each claim first, in every language and channel, including the ones agencies and retailers published for you. Then trace each one back to its approval and the evidence on file, so you know which ones need a decision.
How it applies to a specific claim is a question for your legal adviser. Where that claim appears across your markets and languages is a question Arbitr answers.
From September 27, 2026, according to the text of Directive (EU) 2024/825, which amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Member states had until March 27, 2026 to adopt and publish their national rules.1
They're two different texts, though headlines often use one name for both. The Green Claims Directive is a separate 2023 proposal, which the European Commission said in June 2025 it intended to withdraw.3 Directive (EU) 2024/825, the ECGT or Empowering Consumers Directive, was adopted in February 2024.1
Most companies do, and it works for the file it reviews, in the language it reviews, before a campaign ships. It doesn't cover what's published afterwards: the market versions, the agency reworks, the sales deck built from the campaign six months later. That's a volume problem, not a failure of your legal team.
