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  • Enforcing consumer rights to combat greenwashing
7
March
2024

Enforcing consumer rights to combat greenwashing

Consumer protection
Justice, victims’ rights and judicial cooperation
Environmental and social sustainability
Tackling greenwashing is an issue where human rights, consumer rights and climate goals align. Companies use greenwashing to convince people to buy products that are not always as environmentally friendly as they claim to be. They mislead consumers and harm the environment. This report shows how a human rights approach can combat greenwashing. It is based on consultations with experts in 10 Member States. The report identifies gaps in existing laws and enforcement. It includes case studies of consumers seeking remedies for misleading environmental claims.
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  • Key findings
    • A human rights approach to environmental protection empowers consumers
    • Environmental protection – the advantages and limitations of consumer laws
    • Adopting more precise legal frameworks to ensure uniform interpretation
    • Ensuring effective enforcement of rights
      • Dissuasive sanctions
      • Rules on burden of proof and disclosure of information
    • Enhancing cohesion of the supervisory system
    • Representative action and procedural rights of civil society organisations
    • Significance of awareness-raising
  • Introduction
    • Human rights implications of ‘greenwashing’
    • Legal and policy background
      • EU law on consumer and environmental protection
      • Recent EU developments addressing greenwashing
      • EU commitment to international instruments
      • Due diligence and reporting
    • Methodology
    • Structure
  • 1. Consumers’ right to reliable information and environmental impact
    • 1.1 Combating greenwashing as a misleading commercial practice
      • 1.1.1. Applying rules on misleading practices in cases of greenwashing
      • 1.1.2. Enforcement
    • 1.2. Carbon-neutral and carbon ‘offsetting’ claims
    • 1.3. Combating greenwashing through advertising regulations
      • 1.3.1. Judicial and administrative measures
      • 1.3.2. Non-binding self-regulatory codes
    • 1.4. Labels and certification
    • 1.5. Aarhus Convention provisions relevant to consumer protection
    • 1.6. Due diligence and reporting obligations
  • 2. Legal requirements for enforcing collective consumer and environmental rights
    • 2.1. Collective consumer actions relating to the environment
      • 2.1.1. Enforcement under general consumer law
      • 2.1.2. Environmental claims regulated by specific legislation
      • 2.1.3. Environmental claims dispersed in different laws
    • 2.2. Legal standing in collective actions relating to the environment
    • 2.3. Requirement of harm and possibility of actio popularis
    • 2.4. Burden of proof in collective consumer and environmental claims
  • 3. Ways forward
    • 3.1. Ensuring effective enforcement of rights
    • 3.2. Enhancing cohesion of the supervisory system
    • 3.3. Representative action and procedural rights of civil society organisations
    • 3.4. Training and awareness-raising
    • 3.5. Guidance for business
    • 3.6. Incorporating sustainability into consumer protection policy
    • 3.7 Due diligence and reporting
  • About this publication

About this publication

© European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2024

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders.

Neither the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights nor any person acting on behalf of the Agency is responsible for the use that might be made of the following information.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2024

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  • ISBN: 978-92-9489-199-0
  • doi:10.2811/520438
  • TK-03-23-211-EN-Q

PDF

  • ISBN: 978-92-9489-200-3
  • doi:10.2811/305427
  • TK-03-23-211-EN-N

Photo credits (cover):

  • Cover: © J.M. Image Factory/Adobe Stock

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3. Ways forward

Country Research

05 March 2024

Business and human rights: promoting environmental protection through enforcement of consumer rights

These documents were commissioned under contract as background material for comparative analysis by the FRA for the project ‘Business and human rights: promoting environmental protection through enforcement of consumer rights’. The information and views contained in the documents do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA. The documents are made publicly available for transparency and information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.
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