On 13 June 2023, the Dutch Authority for Consumer and Markets (ACM) published an updated version of its Guidelines on Sustainability Claims (Guidelines). In the new version, the ACM has incorporated responses from companies and made adjustments based on EU laws and regulations. The revised version of the Guidelines replaces the version from January 2021. A summary is available in English here.
The Guidelines aim to provide companies with guidance on how to apply and self-assess consumer protection rules governing unfair commercial practices to the use of sustainability claims. The examples included in the Guidelines serve as illustrations of sustainability claims that may be misleading or compliant. Whether a claim is actually misleading must always be assessed on a case-by-case basis and depends on the facts and circumstances of each case.
What has changed compared to the old version?
The Guidelines contain more specified rules of thumb, highlight certain topics and add a list of definitions. The Guidelines also provide more detailed examples of sustainability claims that are or are not permitted. For example, the Guidelines now include appendices that give more concrete examples for the clothing, aviation and energy sectors.
The new rules of thumb have been slightly reformulated as follows:
- Use correct, clear, specific and complete sustainability claims
- Substantiate your sustainability claims with facts, and keep them up-to-date
- Make fair comparisons with other products or competitors
- Describe your future sustainability ambitions in concrete and verifiable terms
- Make sure that visual claims and labels are useful to consumers, not confusing
The first two rules apply to all sustainability claims. Rules 3 to 5 are additional requirements for the use of comparative claims, claims about companies' sustainability ambitions and visual claims and labels.
Always check whether specific legislation applies
It is important to be aware that sustainability claims on certain products and services are (also) subject to specific regulations. The Guidelines do not cover the interpretation of such specific (EU) regulations. The rules on unfair commercial practices can supplement these legislations to the extent necessary and thus form a 'safety net' to act against unfair commercial practices. It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the ACM, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) has now published a guidance document for consultation. The AFM's guidelines provide guidance specifically for the financial sector on how to make clear, non-misleading and correct sustainability claims. Market participants can submit input until 24 July 2023. Finally, it is important to assess whether a sustainability claim conforms to the Dutch Advertising Code Committee’s Code for Environmental Advertising. The latter code provides rules specifically addressed to advertising claims next to the ACM's Guidelines.
New EU rules on the way
On 22 March 2023, the European Commission published a Proposal for a Green Claims Directive. This Proposal sets minimum requirements for substantiation of sustainability claims and rules for verification and enforcement of sustainability claims by independent and accredited verifiers. The Green Claims Directive is accompanied by other important legislative initiatives and updates as part of the EU's broader policy and strategy for a more sustainable, circular and socially responsible economy, which together will have a significant impact on the trade and marketing of (consumer) goods in EU markets. These include the Proposed Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition and the Proposed Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products of March 2022.
Do you have questions about the new regulations and the use of sustainability claims? Feel free to contact Renske Sinke and/or Tosca Bokhove.
Read our previous articles on the ACM's Sustainability Claims Guidelines here, here and here.
