Who is liable if an environmental claim on packaging is wrong?

Responsible is whoever makes the claim towards consumers. That is usually the brand owner or the company placing the product on the market. It stays that way even where the underlying data comes from a supplier and where the label was issued by a third party.

Who carries the risk along the supply chain

• Brand owner: liable for every environmental claim on packaging, website and in advertising.
• Retail with private labels: is itself the brand owner for those products.
• Importer: places on the market and advertises product properties, and is liable accordingly.
• Online retailer: adopts manufacturer statements into the product description and thereby makes them its own claim.
• Supplier: not liable towards consumers, but loses orders when it cannot supply the evidence.

Who enforces it

Not an authority, but competitors and consumer associations. In Germany the EmpCo Directive takes effect through six new entries on the blacklist annexed to section 3(3) of the Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG). An infringement can therefore be pursued by way of a formal warning, regardless of whether anyone was harmed. For cases with cross-border relevance, European consumer protection rules additionally provide for fines whose maximum must amount to at least 4 % of annual turnover in the member states concerned.

What independent certification changes

It does not take the responsibility away, it provides the basis. In a dispute what counts is whether the claim is substantiated. Evidence from an accredited body moves the discussion from “this is what we say” to “this is what was measured”. Which role in your supply chain carries which risk is set out on the page about green claims and EmpCo.