The directive and the date it applies
Directive (EU) 2024/825, the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, amends Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices. It was done at Strasbourg on 28 February 2024 and published in the Official Journal, Series L, as 2024/825 on 6 March 2024. Article 5 sets entry into force on the twentieth day after publication. Article 4(1) required Member States to publish transposing measures by 27 March 2026 and to apply them from 27 September 2026. Article 3 requires a Commission report on the directive’s application by 27 September 2031.
Hotel services sit inside the scope
The amended framework covers unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in relation to a product. Directive 2005/29/EC defines a product as any goods or service, including immovable property, rights and obligations. Accommodation, meetings and destination-facing marketing sit inside that definition. The directive adds environmental and social characteristics and circularity aspects to the list of main product characteristics that can make a practice misleading.
Claims banned in all circumstances
The directive inserts five points into Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC. Annex I practices are prohibited in every circumstance. Point 2a covers a displayed sustainability label with no certification scheme and no public authority behind it. Point 4a covers a generic environmental claim where the trader cannot demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim. Point 4b covers an environmental claim about an entire product or an entire business when it concerns one aspect or one activity. Point 4c covers a claim of climate neutrality, reduced impact or positive impact that rests on greenhouse-gas offsetting. Point 10a covers presenting a legal requirement imposed on every product in a category as a distinctive feature of the trader’s offer.
The words that need backing
Recital 9 names the generic terms the ban reaches: environmentally friendly, eco-friendly, green, nature friendly, ecological, environmentally correct, climate friendly, gentle on the environment, carbon friendly, energy efficient, biodegradable and biobased. Recital 12 names climate neutral and carbon positive among the offset-based claims. Article 2(p) defines a generic environmental claim as one carried where the claim’s specification appears in clear and prominent text. A hotel sign, a booking page banner or a loyalty brochure carrying any of those terms needs recognised excellent environmental performance behind it.
Pledges and future targets
Article 6(2)(d) governs pledges. A claim about future environmental performance is misleading unless it rests on clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments in a detailed and realistic implementation plan. That plan must carry measurable and time-bound targets and the resources needed to implement them. An independent third-party expert must verify the claim regularly, and the findings must reach consumers. The provision is assessed case by case, so a net-zero pledge sits under Article 6(2)(d).
Labels and certification
A sustainability label must rest on a certification scheme or come from public authorities. Article 2(r) defines a certification scheme as a third-party verification scheme that certifies compliance with set requirements, permits use of the corresponding label, and publishes terms that meet stated criteria, including open, transparent, fair and non-discriminatory access. Article 2(s) defines recognised excellent environmental performance. An operator displaying an eco-label or a carbon badge has to name the scheme behind it and show the label meets the definition.
Brand names and trademarks
Article 2(o) defines an environmental claim to include any message or representation in a commercial communication, in text, pictorial, graphic or symbolic form, such as labels, brand names, company names or product names, that states or implies a positive or zero environmental impact. Recital 9 records that brand names and trademarks are caught despite intellectual property protection. A property or brand name that carries an environmental message sits inside the definition.
Comparison and product characteristics
Article 6(1)(b) of Directive 2005/29/EC now lists environmental or social characteristics and circularity aspects, such as durability, reparability and recyclability, among the main characteristics of a product. Article 7 gains a paragraph on services that compare products.
The penalty framework
The directive leaves the fine to national law. Article 13(3) of Directive 2005/29/EC, inserted by Directive (EU) 2019/2161, requires national law to set the maximum fine for the relevant infringements at no less than 4 per cent of the trader’s annual turnover in the Member State or Member States concerned. That figure attaches where penalties are imposed under Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2394. Article 13(6) requires fines of at least EUR 2 million where turnover data is unavailable. Member States set and enforce the penalties, so the operative fine and remedy vary by country.