The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has issued a guide to prevent greenwashing. It provides guidance on good and bad practices and warns companies that simply announcing that a product is sustainable from an environmental point of view without substance is not acceptable. It cautions against overusing vague terms such as green or eco-friendly, noting that such practices can attract penalties.
The sanction represents an extreme case where messaging is deemed an unfair commercial practice for violating consumer law. Fines can reach up to 100,000 euros and could be multiplied by four to six times the illicit benefit gained.
Rather than punishing honest actors, the aim is to protect companies that act with integrity. The guidance encourages avoiding generalities and adopting language that is clear, simple, and specific. It recommends including relevant and useful information and not concealing data. It also stresses that information should be up to date, supported by studies, and should not claim an advantage that law already requires.
It may seem obvious, but 80 percent of websites, online shops, or advertisements present information about environmental impact that is not always clear or substantive. This can lead to deceptive practices in the eyes of consumers, according to a study cited in the guide from the European Commission.
In fact, the ministry highlights a rise in bad practices. A report by the Network for Consumer Protection Cooperation analyzed 344 disclosures and found that 42 percent were doubtful and 57.5 percent did not provide enough information to verify claims.
Nueva directiva
Beyond current regulations and ethical codes, the European Commission is working on a directive about the justification and communication of explicit environmental claims. The directive would require all companies, except microenterprises, to prove and verify every environmental statement they make.
Key changes under the directive include that general statements about environmental impact will be treated as unfair commercial practices in all circumstances. Sanctions would apply directly, without case-by-case analysis as happens today. It also contemplates the possibility of confiscating revenues from selling products that do not meet the directive’s criteria, temporary exclusion from public procurement or access to public funding such as tenders, grants, or concessions, and, in some cases, fines of at least four percent of annual turnover.
The aim of the new rules is to ensure that sanctions are effective and dissuasive. They seek to strip the benefits from those who breach the rules. The ministry notes that about 72 percent of Spaniards say eco and social certifications positively influence their purchases, and while labeling remains a primary information source for all of them, around 20 percent view such information as confusing or hard to understand.
Ejemplos
Among the recommendations from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs are many concrete examples. It suggests avoiding labeling a product as sustainable and instead stating that it was grown without pesticides, or that it was harvested and produced within a 100-kilometer radius, or specifying precisely which parts of a product benefit. For instance, changing a bottle label from reading “30% recycled material” to “container produced with 30% recycled material.”
It also advises clarifying when statements refer to a company’s actions versus those affecting the life cycle of a product, and when companies are more specific. If a claim reads “new, more sustainable formula,” it should be adjusted to “new formula reduces toxicity by 3 percent,” for example.