Empowering Consumers Directive — Directive (EU) 2024/825
- Citation
- Directive (EU) 2024/825
- Jurisdiction
- EU
- Made by
- European Commission
- Instrument
- Directive
- Status
- In force
What it requires (5 obligations)
Displaying a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme, or not established by public authorities, is prohibited.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Traders
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, footwear
- Markets
- EU
- Entry into force
- 2026-09-27
Reaches self-declared marks and own-brand sustainability badges, which are neither certification schemes nor established by public authorities. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.
Quoted from the Annex, point (1), inserting point 2a into Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC.
Making a generic environmental claim for which the trader cannot demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim is prohibited.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Traders
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, footwear
- Markets
- EU
- Entry into force
- 2026-09-27
A claim stops being generic when its specification is given in clear and prominent terms ON THE SAME MEDIUM. The recitals give the worked contrast: "climate-friendly packaging" is generic, while "100 % of energy used to produce this packaging comes from renewable sources" is specific and outside this point. Recital examples of generic claims include eco-friendly, green, ecological, climate friendly, carbon friendly, biodegradable and biobased. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.
Quoted from the Annex, point (2), inserting point 4a. The definition of "generic environmental claim" is inserted into Article 2 of Directive 2005/29/EC as point (p).
Making an environmental claim about the entire product, or about the trader's entire business, when it concerns only a certain aspect of the product or a specific activity of the business, is prohibited.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Traders
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, footwear
- Markets
- EU
- Entry into force
- 2026-09-27
This is the scope-widening prohibition, and it is the one a textile supply chain trips over most naturally: an organic-cotton face fabric does not license a claim about the garment, and a certified dyehouse does not license a claim about the business. The claim must be no wider than the thing it rests on. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.
Quoted from the Annex, point (2), inserting point 4b.
Claiming, based on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, is prohibited.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Traders
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, footwear
- Markets
- EU
- Entry into force
- 2026-09-27
The phrase "carbon neutral" appears NOWHERE in this Directive — zero occurrences. The point is written around the mechanism, not the wording: what is banned is a neutral, REDUCED or positive impact claim that rests on offsetting. So avoiding the popular phrase does not avoid the prohibition, and a reduction claim resting on measured abatement rather than offsets is not caught by it. Both errors follow from searching the text for the phrase instead of the mechanism. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.
Quoted from the Annex, point (2), inserting point 4c.
Presenting requirements imposed by law on all products within the relevant product category on the Union market as a distinctive feature of the trader's offer is prohibited.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Traders
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, footwear
- Markets
- EU
- Entry into force
- 2026-09-27
Directly relevant to textiles, where compliance is routinely marketed as virtue: "azo-free", "nickel-safe", "no restricted substances" describe obedience to REACH Annex XVII, which binds every competitor equally. Presenting that as a distinctive feature of the offer is the prohibited act.
Quoted from the Annex, point (3), inserting point 10a.
This is a register, not advice. It records what an instrument says and when it applies. Whether it applies to a particular company, product or shipment is a question for somebody who knows that business, and the answer is frequently not what the summary above would suggest.
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