May sustainability labels still be used from 27 September 2026?

Yes, but only by two routes: the label must have been established by public authorities or be based on a certification scheme. A label that meets neither may no longer be displayed towards consumers, even where the underlying claim is factually correct.

Route 1: established by public authorities

This covers marks such as the EU Ecolabel or the German Blauer Engel, which rest on a public legal act. One restriction matters here, and the Commission services have stated it expressly: what is meant are authorities in the EU. A label established by an authority outside the EU is prohibited under number 2a unless it is additionally based on a certification scheme.

Route 2: a certification scheme

A certification scheme must make its conditions, including the requirements, publicly available and meet four criteria: be open to all traders on transparent, fair and non-discriminatory terms, draw up its requirements in consultation with experts and stakeholders, provide procedures for non-compliance up to withdrawal of the label, and have compliance monitored by an independent third party. All four must be met, not just one.

By this route established private programmes remain permissible, for example FSC, PEFC or Fairtrade, and by the same route the flustix trustmarks: a published programme, laboratory testing in laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, conformity assessment to ISO/IEC 17065 by independent certification partners, and a certificate that can be looked up by its licence number in the public database.

What drops out

Self-created logos, own labels and in-house standards without independent verification. A label whose compliance the company checks itself already fails the fourth criterion. That includes the sustainability marks retail chains run on their own brands.

Who has to check

The duty to check lies with the company displaying the label, not with the label owner. Anyone using a third-party label that does not meet the requirements is liable themselves; an assurance from the label owner is not enough. In practice that means checking three things before use: are the conditions and requirements publicly available? Who monitors compliance, and is that body independent? Is there a defined procedure for withdrawal? Anyone unable to answer those three questions is not looking at a certification scheme.