EmpCo Fact Check: What the Empowering Consumers Directive is About

On September 27, 2026, the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EU) 2024/825, better known as EmpCo, becomes applicable across the EU. From that date, environmental and sustainability claims aimed at consumers must be precise, clearly scoped, and backed by evidence that holds up to scrutiny. 

With less than three months to go, there are still many misconceptions circulating. Some summaries present the directive as a blanket ban on green claims. Others reduce it to a packaging topic or confuse it with the separate Green Claims Directive, which remains a pending legislative proposal. 

These readings lead to poor decisions. The first triggers unnecessary communication freezes, and the second leaves real greenwashing exposure risks unaddressed. This blog clarifies which environmental advertising and sustainability claims are prohibited by EmpCo, under what conditions they remain possible, and what companies selling to EU consumers should do before September. 

The Empowering Consumers Directive amends existing EU consumer law 

EmpCo amends two established pieces of EU consumer protection law: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD). Member states had to transpose it by March 27, 2026, and the new rules apply from September 27, 2026. 

The scope is broad. EmpCo covers business-to-consumer communication in every channel, including advertising, packaging, product pages, online shops, apps, social media, and the point of sale. Brand names, product names, colors, and symbols count as environmental claims when they suggest a positive environmental impact. There is no company size exemption, and the rules apply to any company selling to EU consumers, wherever it is headquartered. 

EmpCo at a glance: 

• Who is affected: Any company selling to EU consumers, regardless of size, industry, or headquarters location. No SME exemption. Retailers share responsibility for the claims on products they sell. 
• When it applies: From September 27, 2026. No general transition period, and no sell-through window for existing stock. 
• What it covers: Every consumer-facing channel, from advertising, packaging, and online shops to apps, social media, and the point of sale, down to labels, symbols, colors, and product names. 
• What changes: Vague green claims are restricted, specific and substantiated ones stay possible, and new information duties apply at the point of sale. 
• What non-compliance means: Fines of at least 4% of annual turnover in coordinated cross-border cases, plus the operational cost of repackaging, claim withdrawals, and retailer inquiries. 

Enforcement relies on the existing mechanisms of national consumer and unfair-competition law rather than a new EU-level fine catalog. In Germany, for example, competitors and consumer associations can pursue cease-and-desist claims under the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG), and those claims work before any consumer harm has been proven. The 4% turnover ceiling applies to coordinated cross-border cases, with at least €2 million as the fallback where turnover figures are unavailable. 

The directive works through two mechanisms. A defined set of practices joins the UCPD blacklist and is prohibited in all circumstances, without any need to prove that consumers were misled. Everything else remains subject to a case-by-case assessment of whether a claim misleads the average consumer. Some claims therefore disappear entirely in September, while others survive with the right evidence behind them. The European Commission sets out how these rules apply in its official Q&A on the directive. 

Banned in all circumstances from September 27, 2026 

Five blacklist additions carry the most weight for sustainability communication: 

• Generic environmental claims without recognized proof: Terms such as “eco-friendly”, “green”, “climate-friendly”, or “sustainable” are prohibited unless the company can demonstrate recognized excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim, for example under the EU Ecolabel or an officially recognized ISO 14024 type I label. A self-developed standard or a generic sustainability rating does not qualify. 
• Product climate claims only based on offsetting: Claims such as “climate neutral”, “CO2 neutral”, or “climate positive” are banned for products when the stated benefit relies on purchased carbon credits or other compensation outside the product’s life cycle. 
• Sustainability labels without a qualified basis: A label may only be displayed if it was established by a public authority or rests on a certification scheme with independent third-party monitoring, transparent access, and defined procedures for violations. Self-created leaf, planet, or checkmark badges become a liability once consumers read them as verified seals. 
• Whole-product claims backed by partial evidence: Calling a product “sustainable” because its packaging contains recycled material, or a company “environmentally friendly” because one site buys renewable electricity, overstates the verified scope. 
• Legal requirements marketed as a distinctive advantage: An obligation that applies to every competitor in the category cannot be presented as a special feature of one product. 

Still possible: specific, substantiated environmental claims

EmpCo leaves room for environmental communication that is precise and verifiable. 

• Specific, clearly scoped claims: A statement such as “100% of the electricity used at this production site in 2025 came from renewable sources” can remain permissible when it is accurate, current, clearly limited in scope, and supported by reliable data. 
• Private labels with qualified certification: Third-party sustainability labels stay allowed when the underlying certification scheme meets the independence and transparency criteria. 
• Future targets with substance: Claims such as “net zero by 2040” require public, measurable, time-bound commitments, a realistic implementation plan with allocated resources, and regular review by an independent expert whose findings are accessible to consumers. 
• Comparisons with method transparency: Environmental comparisons remain possible when companies disclose the comparison method, the products and suppliers compared, and how the information is kept current. 
• Transparent reporting on climate investments: Companies may continue to invest in climate projects and report on those investments, as long as no product-level neutrality claim is derived from them. 

One caveat applies across all five: claims being specific does not automatically mean they’re compliant. Every claim remains subject to the general misleading-practices test, including its overall impression and any information it omits. 

EmpCo reaches beyond green claims 

The directive also targets premature obsolescence and adds information duties at the point of sale. Presenting a feature update as necessary, withholding that a software update degrades a device, making false durability or repairability claims, and prompting consumers to replace consumables earlier than technically required all join the list of prohibited practices. 

Retailers face new display duties as well. Physical and online stores must show a harmonized EU notice on the statutory legal guarantee of at least two years. Where a producer offers a free commercial durability guarantee of more than two years covering the entire product, the new EU GARAN label must be displayed. Repairability information and software update periods, where the producer provides them, must reach consumers before purchase. For retail and e-commerce teams, this creates process work far beyond marketing copy. 

Three persistent misconceptions about EmpCo 

“Old stock is grandfathered.” 
No general transition period exists for packaging printed or goods shipped before September 27, 2026. What counts is the commercial practice from the application date onward. EU consumer protection authorities have outlined a pragmatic, proportionate enforcement approach for old-stock situations, but that guidance is non-binding and creates no safe harbor. Existing inventory becomes a documented remediation task: prioritize by SKU, market, and claim, then assess corrections such as stickers, supplementary point-of-sale information, or updates in digital channels. 

“EmpCo and the Green Claims Directive are the same.” 
The Green Claims Directive is a separate legislative proposal and, as of July 2026, has not been adopted. EmpCo applies independently of it. Companies waiting for the Green Claims Directive before acting are waiting past their actual deadline. 

“EmpCo only affects packaging.” 
The Empowering Consumers Directive covers every consumer-facing channel, from advertising and online shops to social media, apps, and point-of-sale displays. It extends to labels, symbols, images, and even product and brand names. 

“Staying silent on sustainability avoids the risk.” 
Some companies respond to the new rules by pulling back from sustainability communication altogether, a pattern known as green hushing. Going quiet removes the exposure of a single claim, but it also gives up the value that substantiated communication creates. Buyers, retailers, and B2B partners increasingly ask for verified sustainability information, and competitors who can provide it gain the ground that silence leaves open. EmpCo raises the bar on evidence rather than closing the door on communication. 

Five steps to prepare before September 27, 2026 

1. Build a claim inventory 
   Capture every consumer-facing statement across packaging, product pages, marketplaces, social media, campaigns, and apps, including icons, labels, colors, and product names. 
2. Classify each claim 
   Assign every statement to a category: generic, specific, comparative, future-oriented, offsetting-based, or label-related. The category determines which legal test applies. 
3. Match claim scope to evidence scope 
   Document product, variant, site, region, time period, life cycle stage, data source, and calculation method for each claim, and keep the underlying evidence in one place. The communicated scope must never exceed the verified scope. 
4. Set up a cross-functional approval workflow 
   Marketing alone cannot control EmpCo exposure. Claim reviews need to connect legal, sustainability, product compliance, procurement, and e-commerce before publication. 
5. Address old stock actively 
   Prioritize inventory and packaging by risk, document the assessment, and define corrective measures for critical claims. 

Precise claims need connected data 

EmpCo shifts sustainability communication from a primarily creative discipline to a governed, data-based process. Precise claims are still welcome; unsupported ones become a liability. The companies in the best position for September are those that can trace every consumer-facing claim back to reliable product, supplier, and emissions data, with documentation that stands up to a challenge. 

Going quiet to sidestep the rules carries its own cost. As buyers, retailers, and B2B partners keep asking for verified sustainability information, the companies that can answer with confidence hold an advantage over those that say nothing. The goal is to keep communicating on firmer ground. 

That firmer ground is traceability, and it is where most organizations meet their real bottleneck, because the data behind a claim sits scattered across suppliers, ERP systems, spreadsheets, and certificates. The osapiens HUB connects product compliance data, supplier evidence, and carbon footprints on one platform, so every claim can be linked to a verified source, an owner, and an audit trail. Every statement made to consumers rests on data that holds up.