AIM - European Brands Assn. welcomes adoption of European Parliament’s position on the Green Claims Directive, but ‘regrets the missed opportunity of introducing key clarifications to make the legislative framework workable and enforceable’

Brussels, 12 March 2024 – AIM welcomes the adoption of the European Parliament’s position on the Green Claims Directive, but regrets the missed opportunity of introducing key clarifications to make the legislative framework workable and enforceable

AIM welcomes the adoption of the European Parliament’s position on the European Commission’s proposal for a Green Claims Directive, which will be key to ensuring trusted and relevant claims and creating a level playing field among traders, empowering both consumers and traders in the green transition. The European Parliament’s position attempts to address the challenges and shortcomings identified under the ex-ante verification and certification process proposed by the European Commission, most notably through the introduction of a deadline for verifiers to complete the verification process and the possibility for the Commission to adopt secondary legislation to set up simplified procedures, including a presumption of conformity, for certain environmental claims. Moreover, AIM welcomes the extension of the timeline for the application of the new rules, necessary to allow traders, verifiers and authorities to have adequate time for compliance with the new legislative framework.

However, we regret that key elements to simplify and improve the ex-ante verification process have been moved to secondary legislation, which will potentially require years to be developed and implemented, leaving traders with a burdensome claim-by-claim approval until then. In addition, the European Parliament failed to ensure maximum harmonization of the rules and substantiation requirements proportionate to the nature of the claim. This could potentially lead to divergent interpretations among traders, verifiers and national authorities, unnecessarily increasing costs, delaying the substantiation and verification process, and disincentivising traders from investing in the innovation of environmental aspects of their products. Finally, the decision to remove the reference to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive will create legal uncertainty for traders and risk duplicating the applicable rules for the substantiation of environmental claims that are regulated under the packaging legislation.