Sammy Drissi Amraoui recently joined the French General Commission for Sustainable Development, a cross-cutting department of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. His department has been entrusted with steering the negotiations on behalf of France on the European “Green Claims” Directive on the justification and communication of explicit environmental claims, which also includes a section on environmental labels. He was on hand to explain the ins and outs of this Directive at the Cosmetic Valley’s 22nd Congress on Regulatory Issues - Fragrance & Cosmetics.
The background
An impact study carried out by the Commission highlighted several points:
• 53% of environmental claims (all sectors combined) give vague, misleading or unfounded information
• 40% of claims are not supported by evidence
• Half of environmental labels offer little or no verification
The Commission’s services identified 230 sustainable development labels and around a hundred green energy labels in the EU, with very different levels of transparency.
The objectives
The aim is to restore consumer confidence through the three objectives of the “Green Claims” Directive:
• To provide a framework for the use of environmental claims and environmental labels
• To combat greenwashing
• To lay down specific rules on the justification of environmental claims used by companies
The timetable
The draft text was published in March 2023, and discussions have now begun, with the final phase to take place in the trialogue between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. It is estimated that the final text could be published in the course of 2026, with implementation starting in the course of 2029.
General orientations
The scope of the Directive
This Directive will apply to:
• Explicit environmental claims, whether oral or written
• Voluntary …
