AMZ123 has learned that the EU’s EmpCo Directive amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive to regulate environmental and sustainability claims targeting end consumers. The directive will take effect on September 27, 2026. After that, businesses will be prohibited from using vague, general environmental claims without substantial evidence.

Restricted terms include common wording such as “environmentally friendly,” “green,” “eco-friendly,” “sustainable,” “carbon neutral,” and “climate neutral.” Sellers wishing to use environmental claims in product marketing must provide valid evidence that the product’s environmental performance meets recognized industry standards.

Compliant evidence includes holding the EU Ecolabel, an officially recognized Type I eco-label, or third-party testing certification verified through scientifically rigorous methods.

The new rules identify two core violations. First, “carbon neutral” or “net zero” claims based solely on carbon offsetting are fully prohibited. Second, sustainable certification labels created by companies themselves cannot be used commercially unless supported by an open, transparent, traceable third-party certification system.

The directive covers all B2C commercial scenarios targeting EU consumers, including product detail pages, product packaging, advertising materials, brand websites, and marketing emails. It applies regardless of where a company is registered, so non-EU sellers selling into the EU must also comply.

If violations occur, consumer protection authorities in EU member states may take enforcement action, require sellers to correct issues and remove non-compliant products, and impose fines of up to 4% of annual turnover in serious cases. The EU has withdrawn the Green Claims Directive proposal published in June 2025, so current supervision of green marketing abuses relies entirely on the prohibitive provisions of the EmpCo Directive.

Meanwhile, Amazon Europe will also implement these new EU rules and has updated clear compliance requirements in Seller Central Help. The platform prohibits sellers from making general environmental claims without evidence, environmental benefit claims supported only by carbon offsets, and displaying sustainable certification labels without official authorization.

Sellers with environmental or sustainability-related descriptions in product copy or labeling must prepare complete compliance documents in advance, including third-party test reports, complete carbon accounting data, and product material traceability evidence, and retain them for inspection. If a seller cannot provide valid supporting materials during a platform spot check, the product will be delisted; serious cases may also result in account health score deductions or even account function restrictions.

Home, home textiles, outdoor, and maternal and infant categories are key inspection targets because they have historically used environmental marketing language frequently, creating higher compliance risk. The platform recommends that all European sellers thoroughly review store Listings before the rules take effect on September 27, remove all unsupported green marketing language, and improve compliance evidence files to avoid listing removal during major sales events or account restrictions.

For cross-border e-commerce sellers, all content involving environmental or sustainability claims—including text descriptions, promotional images, and certification badges on product detail pages—must be reviewed and corrected one by one. For existing inventory produced before the rules take effect, if outer packaging contains non-compliant claims, sellers may temporarily cover them with stickers and add clarifying notes on sales pages as interim compliance measures, but full supply-chain compliance corrections are still required in the long term.

For this new regulation, actionable compliance steps for sellers are as follows:

• Use keyword tools to review listings across all Amazon Europe marketplaces, focusing on sensitive Chinese and English terms such as “环保,” “可持续,” “碳中和,” “eco,” “green,” and “sustainable.”

• Delete or rewrite all environmental claims that cannot be supported by valid evidence.

• For environmental claims that are retained, organize complete sets of certification reports, testing data, and traceability documents to respond to platform and regulator spot checks at any time.

• Continue monitoring the environmental claims compliance column in Amazon Seller Central and follow up on subsequent rule updates.

Author ✎ TEN/AMZ123

Seller Home Review

The EU EmpCo Directive is about to take effect, and environmental claim compliance has become a mandatory threshold for B2C sellers selling to Europe. Sellers are advised to immediately check listings for unsupported terms such as “environmentally friendly” and “carbon neutral” to avoid fines of up to 4% of annual turnover.

Source: European E-commerce News
Original link: https://www.amz123.com/t/PGOuX5D1