Cracking Down On Greenwashing: What The Act Of 22 July 2026 Means For Your Business

Why now?

The EU Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition (Directive (EU) 2024/825, commonly known as the EmpCo Directive) requires all Member States to crack down on greenwashing. Belgium transposed this Directive through the Act of 22 July 2026, which amends the Code of Economic Law on two fronts: on the one hand, new definitions and concepts are introduced (Book I); on the other, the rules on misleading and prohibited commercial practices are tightened (Book VI). The Belgian legislature stayed close to the Directive, meaning that similar rules will apply throughout the EU.

Five new outright prohibitions on environmental communication

The Act adds a series of practices to the blacklist in Article VI.100 of the Code of Economic Law. These are prohibited in all circumstances: the consumer does not need to demonstrate that they were actually misled. The five core prohibitions:

• Non-certified sustainability labels. Voluntary quality marks may only be used if they have been established by a public authority, or if they are based on a recognised certification scheme with independent verification, publicly available criteria and sufficient transparency. Labels established by public authorities (such as the EU Ecolabel or the energy label) fall outside the prohibition. A self-designed logo featuring a green leaf will no longer suffice.
• Vague green slogans. Terms such as “environmentally friendly”, “green” or “eco” fall under the per se prohibition where the business cannot demonstrate that the product achieves recognised excellent environmental performance (e.g. the EU Ecolabel). A claim is also generic (and therefore prohibited) where the specification is not presented in clear and prominent terms on the same medium as the claim itself (e.g. packaging, website or advertisement). A business that sufficiently specifies the claim on the spot escapes the per se prohibition but may still be assessed under the general rules on misleading commercial practices (Article VI.97).
• Environmental claims covering only one aspect. Labelling a product as “made from recycled material” when only the packaging is recycled, or suggesting that the entire business runs on renewable energy when that is true for only a fraction of its operations – think of an oil company highlighting one small circular project as its calling card – is prohibited.
• “Carbon neutral” based on offsetting. It is now prohibited to claim that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions where that claim relies wholly or partly on offsetting emissions outside the product’s value chain. Claims such as “carbon neutral” or “climate positive” that are based on financing tree-planting projects are effectively excluded. Communicating genuine emission reductions within the business’s own production chain remains permissible, provided this is substantiated with concrete and verifiable data.
• Presenting legal requirements as a distinguishing feature. Presenting a characteristic that is already mandatory for all competitors as a distinctive advantage also carries the risk of sanctions.

Two new categories of misleading practices

In addition to the outright prohibitions, the Act also extends the list of misleading commercial practices (Article VI.98). Unlike the blacklist, these are assessed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether they are liable to mislead the average consumer:

• Promises without a plan. Claims about future environmental performance (“climate neutral by 2040”) are misleading unless they are supported by clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments and targets, accompanied by an independent monitoring system. The recitals to the Directive clarify that in practice this amounts to a detailed and realistic implementation plan with measurable interim targets and independent verification.
• Advertising irrelevant benefits. It is misleading to advertise benefits to consumers that are not relevant and do not result from a characteristic of the product or business activity: think of bottled water marketed as “gluten-free”. This covers situations in which a technically accurate but entirely irrelevant characteristic is used as a selling point.

New obligations on durability and repairability

The Act does not only target advertising claims. It also tightens the rules on the actual durability of products and the information consumers receive about them.

Blacklist. The following practices relating to product durability are now prohibited in all circumstances:

• concealing that a software update will impair the functioning of goods with digital elements;
• presenting a software update as necessary for conformity when it merely enhances functionality;
• engaging in commercial communication about a product that contains a built-in limitation on its lifespan, where the trader is aware of this;
• falsely claiming that a good has a certain durability (in terms of usage time or intensity);
• presenting a product as repairable when it is not;
• inducing consumers to replace consumables earlier than technically necessary;
• withholding information about impaired functioning when using non-original parts or accessories.

More pre-contractual information before purchase. Before a consumer contract is concluded, businesses must now also provide the following information – not only in general terms and conditions, but on product pages, during the checkout process and at the point of sale:

• the repairability score of the product, where available;
• in the absence of a repairability score: the repair information provided by the producer (availability, cost and ordering procedure for spare parts, maintenance and repair instructions, and any repair restrictions);
• the minimum period for software updates for goods with digital elements, digital content or digital services;
• the existence and duration of a commercial durability guarantee from the producer that is offered at no additional cost, covers the entire product and runs for more than two years;
• a harmonised notice on the legal guarantee of conformity (minimum two years);
• where applicable, a harmonised label for the commercial durability guarantee.

Who is affected?

The new rules apply directly to B2C commercial practices. However, B2B suppliers will also feel the impact: they often provide the data and materials on which environmental claims and labels are based. In practice, businesses can expect their customers to pass the substantiation obligations down the supply chain through contractual arrangements. Moreover, B2B greenwashing is already actionable under the existing rules on misleading B2B advertising (Article VI.105 of the Code of Economic Law) and through cessation proceedings: the risk is therefore not limited to the consumer relationship.

Enforcement and sanctions

The Act of 22 July 2026 enters into force on 27 September 2026. Enforcement relies on the existing instruments of the Code of Economic Law: the Economic Inspectorate may intervene, and competitors or consumers may bring cessation proceedings before the president of the enterprise court. The potential sanctions include cessation orders, criminal fines, amicable settlements with the Economic Inspectorate, and damages. A limited six-month transitional measure applies to goods produced, packaged or placed on the market before 27 September 2026. This does not, however, provide a full safety net: competitor actions and consumer complaints remain possible during the transitional period.

What can you do now? A practical checklist

• Audit your existing claims. Map all environment-related statements (on packaging, websites, social media, quotations and advertising) and test them against the new prohibitions.
• Check your labels. Are they based on a recognised certification scheme with independent verification? If not, the label must be adapted or removed.
• Substantiate or drop. Generic slogans that cannot be backed up with hard evidence must be removed or replaced with specific, verifiable claims explained on the same medium.
• Review offset claims. Does your climate neutrality claim rely on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions? If so, it is prohibited under the new Act. Redirect your communication towards actual emission reductions within your own value chain.
• Align your legal and marketing teams. The new rules affect compliance, communications and procurement alike. Ensure that all departments involved follow the same guidelines.
• Update your B2B contracts. Incorporate the substantiation obligations into supplier contracts and purchasing terms, so that you can rely on the data received from your suppliers.
• Adjust pre-contractual information. Verify that your product pages and points of sale contain all newly required information (repairability score, spare parts, software updates, guarantee duration).

In closing

Stricter rules need not lead to silence on sustainability. Businesses that review and substantiate their green communication in good time will strengthen their credibility and reduce the risk of fines, cessation orders and reputational damage. Those who act now will have a competitive edge on 27 September 2026. As a practical reference, businesses may also consult the Guidelines on Environmental Claims published by the FPS Economy (Praktische-gids-Goede-praktijken-inzake-milieuclaims.pdf), which offer concrete guidance on how to formulate environment-related statements correctly.