Representatives of the EU Parliament and the Council were to have met on Monday for a third, and potentially final, round of trilogue negotiations on the proposed Green Claims Directive, draft consumer protection legislation meant to combat the problem of greenwashing. However, the adoption of the Directive now appears highly uncertain after the European Commission announced its intention to withdraw the proposal last Friday and the Italian government pulled its backing for the Council's mandate in the trilogue talks.
Presented by the previous Commission in March 2023, the proposed Green Claims Directive was meant to address misleading environmental claims by imposing penalties and drafting stricter rules for the approval of new environmental labels. It targets advertising and other claims related to environmental characteristics, including recyclability and recycled content, and would require claims such as "packaging made from 30 per cent recycled plastic" to be independently verified and substantiated....
