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Europe’s biggest online fashion retailer, Zalando, recently agreed to dramatically and rapidly overhaul its sustainability marketing in the face of pressure by the European Commission. This is yet another example of why companies need to be extremely careful when making environmental claims in their advertising. Such claims are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny and activist litigation in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere around the globe.Continue Reading Scrutiny of Green Claims is in Fashion: Zalando Forced to Overhaul Sustainability Claims

On Monday, September 14, the FTC announced that it had sent letters to five providers of environmental seals and certifications and 32 individual companies using such seals and certifications, warning them against potentially overbroad, deceptive uses. The latest edition of the FTC’s Green Guides contains a section dealing with the use of environmental seals and certifications. 16 C.F.R. Part 260.6. The Guides make clear that labeling a product with an unqualified environmental seal runs the risk of conveying an unsubstantiated and overbroad claim about the overall environmental benefits of a product. Furthermore, third-party seals and certifications do not relieve marketers of the obligation to substantiate all of the claims that they convey to consumers, including claims relating to the seals and certifications. For that reason, the FTC recommends that such seals and certifications be prominently qualified in order to explain to consumers exactly the attributes on which the certification is based. In a blog post regarding the release, the FTC reminds marketers who use a green seal or certification on products that they must “explain what the seal or certification is based on, and it has to be specific. For example, a marketer could say the product is ‘biodegradable’ or ‘recyclable.’ It’s not enough for a seal to just say ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendly;’ in fact, that could be deceptive.”

Chris FTC Enviro Seals Image

The letters to the certifiers focus on the risk of “unqualified general environmental benefit claims [which] likely convey a wide range of meanings, including that a product has specific and far-reaching environmental benefits and that an item has no negative environmental impact.” As the Green Guides state,
Continue Reading The FTC’s Latest Warning Letter Barrage Targets Misuse of Environmental Seals and Certifications.

Advertising the environmental benefits and attributes of consumer products has become an increasing trend in recent years as companies learn that consumers value “green” goods and services. To address compliance issues encountered in making these types of marketing claims, regulators are formulating guidance for businesses. While the U.S. is in the process of revising its environmental marketing Green Guides, the U.K. has published its new Green Claims Guidance. Both the U.S. and U.K. have addressed similar issues in their respective guidance documents.

The U.K.’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (“Defra”) published the revised Green Claims Guidance on February 2, 2011, updating previous guidance published in 2003. The Green Claims Guidance is directed at anyone who produces, sells, markets, or advertizes products or services in the U.K.Continue Reading Revised U.K. Green Claims Guidance