Tightening of the rules against greenwashing

On 7 July 2026, the National Council passed the amendment to the Unfair Competition Act by a majority vote. This is intended to transpose the EmpCo Directive (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, 2024/825), which aims to curb greenwashing more effectively. In future, environmental claims and statements regarding social impacts must be clearly verifiable. The directive will apply across the EU from 27 September 2026.

Whilst the EmpCo Consumer Rights Directive makes sustainability communication stricter, it also makes it fairer: it will be clearer to customers what actually lies behind environmental and social promises, and for businesses, demonstrable commitment to sustainability will become a competitive advantage. The aim of the directive is to help customers make informed purchasing decisions and to enable them to better compare companies’ environmental claims.

Greenwashing and bluewashing: The guideline covers statements regarding the environmental and social impacts of a company or a product.

Essentially, the EmpCo focuses on sustainability-related communication with consumers. This refers not only to product labelling, but to any form of advertising or communication directed at the general public that is likely to influence consumers’ opinions about the social or environmental characteristics of a product or the company itself (and may consequently affect purchasing decisions). Therefore, this potentially also includes website content, social media content, posters, statements to the press, etc.

Where does greenwashing begin? According to the Directive, it begins where promises regarding environmental and/or social issues are made that are too good to be true or too vague.

Checklist: What do companies need to bear in mind in their sustainability communications?

General environmental statements

Terms such as ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘green’, ‘ecological’, ‘sustainable’, ‘climate-friendly’ or ‘energy-efficient’ are regarded as general environmental claims. In future, they will only be permitted if they are backed by a recognised, outstanding environmental achievement (e.g. the Austrian Ecolabel) and if the specification of the claim is clearly and prominently displayed on the same medium as the general claim. It is important to note that even established labels must meet the relevance criterion: consequently, only a label that is relevant as evidence for a particular environmental claim may be displayed to support that claim.

Not permitted: A claim such as ‘climate-friendly packaging’ without further information.

Permitted: The claim ‘100 per cent of the energy used to produce this packaging comes from renewable sources’, on the other hand, is considered a specific environmental claim and is therefore permitted.

Not permitted: Using the EU Ecolabel as evidence for the claim “biodegradable” (if the label does not include criteria relating to biodegradability).

Permitted: Using the EU energy efficiency class as evidence for the claim “energy-efficient”.

General environmental claims are defined in the draft UWG Bill as “an environmental claim made in writing or orally, including via audiovisual media, which is not contained within a sustainability label and where the specifics of the claim are not clearly and prominently stated on the same medium”. These general environmental claims are generally prohibited under the EmpCo. If existing brand or product names contain terms such as ‘eco’ or ‘green’, the EU Commission’s FAQs state that an assessment must be made on a case-by-case basis as to whether the name could be misinterpreted as an environmental or social claim.

Climate neutrality through offsetting

Terms such as ‘climate-neutral’, ‘CO₂-neutral’, ‘climate-friendly’ etc. will be banned in future if climate neutrality is achieved solely through ‘carbon offsetting’ – that is, by funding CO₂ offset projects outside one’s own value chain. Support for climate protection projects will, of course, remain permitted, but these offsetting measures may no longer be used to make the environmental footprint of one’s own product appear smaller than it actually is.

Not permitted: This product is climate-neutral (if the product does not actually produce zero greenhouse gas emissions over its entire life cycle, or if no further specifications are provided).

Permitted: The carbon footprint of this product has been calculated. We support a Gold Standard climate protection project to offset the emissions from this product. (A link to further details could be inserted here)

Homemade sustainability labels

In future, only established labels based on independent or state-recognised certification schemes will be permitted. Self-created graphics that appear to be official environmental labels will in future be regarded as misleading and will not be permitted. All recognised, established labels, such as the EU Ecolabel and the Austrian Environmental Label, as well as independent certificates such as FSC, PEFC, Fairtrade and the Blue Angel, will remain permissible.

Claims that portray environmental performance in a better light than it actually is

Both exaggerations regarding environmental performance and the omission of parts of the truth may in future be classified as unfair commercial practices.

Prohibited: Generalised statements that actually apply only to a specific aspect (e.g. ‘fairly produced’ when only one of several ingredients bears the Fairtrade mark, or ‘made from recycled material’ when only the product’s packaging has been recycled).

Not permitted: Advertising based on irrelevant characteristics or legally prescribed minimum standards (e.g. ‘gluten-free water’ or ‘CFC-free’).

Not permitted: Misleading claims regarding durability and reparability (e.g. where a product could theoretically be repaired, but no spare parts are available).

Not permitted: Significant restrictions or conditions relating to the environmental or social claim.

Recommended reading: GS1 Germany has published comprehensive implementation guidelines for meeting the EmpCo requirements, with contributions from a number of well-known retail companies. The implementation guidelines can be found here:. https://www.gs1-germany.de/fileadmin/gs1/fachpublikationen/GS1_Germany_EmpCo_AWE_V1.1_D.pdf

What does the EmpCo mean for retailers?

In the FAQs, the European Commission (on p. 17) clarifies that the Directive is due to come into force on 27 September 2026 and that, from that date, retailers must ensure that their environmental claims and sustainability labels in communications with consumers comply with the new requirements. In principle, this also applies to existing stock. However, the Austrian amendment to the Unfair Commercial Practices Act (UWG) includes a three-year transition period for products placed on the market before 27 September 2026.

The European Commission, on the other hand, recommends that if retailers identify claims that do not comply with the new regulations, they should ensure compliance through practical measures, such as covering claims with stickers or providing supplementary information at the point of sale.

Enforcement of the EmpCo requirements is the responsibility of national authorities. It is to be expected that they will prioritise cases according to the severity of the infringements and in accordance with the principle of proportionality, whilst taking into account whether traders have made reasonable efforts to ensure compliance.