The German Advertising Association, ZAW, offers their thoughts on the EU Commission’s proposed Directive on Environmental Claims (2023/0085) which has sparked debate between businesses and consumer advocates. While the advertising industry supports protecting consumers from misleading environmental claims, concerns have been raised about the proposal’s bureaucratic requirements as the draft mandates pre-verification and certification of environmental claims by testing bodies. The cost of these ex-ante checks have been estimated to range from €500 to €54,000, on top of testing centre fees. Under this new regime, companies must also review and update their environmental claims every five years. Some argue that the new proposal’s stringent requirements and legal uncertainties might lead to ‘greenhushing’ — where companies, particularly SMEs, opt not to communicate their sustainable practices due to the costly and complex compliance process, potentially undermining the European Green Deal’s objectives. To read the full article, please click here.