IMCO adopted a position to protect consumers and refrain from greenwashing
IMCO adopted the empowering consumers report to improve product information, make products more durable, and ban misleading environmental claims.
On 28 March 2023, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) approved the empowering consumers report to improve product labels for better choices regarding environmentally friendly products and companies.
The approved draft proposes, among others, to:
• prohibit generic environmental claims, i.e. ‘natural’, ‘eco’;
• prohibit companies to not fixing design issues that limit product’s durability and fight against early obsolescence;
• only sustainability labels based on official certification schemes or established by public authorities would be allowed; and
• include all products with a new guarantee label.
The report must be approved at the plenary to follow negotiations with the EU Council.