New rules on consumer empowerment coming soon: Green Claims and Greenwashing

On 5 November 2025, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, approved the draft legislative decree transposing EU Directive 2024/825 on consumer empowerment for the green transition through improved protection against unfair practices and enhanced information.
 
Among the novelties introduced by the new legislation, particular attention should be paid to the provision of stricter requirements for the use of green claims, whose regulation until now was primarily entrusted to the activity of the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) and to IAP codifications and guidelines.
 
In particular, the measure introduces more effective tools to tackle unfair commercial practices related to the environmental and social sustainability of products (so-called “greenwashing”) and provides that environmental communication must be based on principles of clarity and verifiability, for the benefit of consumers.
 
Specifically, with the new regulations, the use of expressions referring to environmental characteristics that had previously been used generically has finally taken on a real role in commercial practices. These include:

• “environmental claim” meaning any message or representation, including visual or symbolic, which states or implies that a product, product category, brand, or economic operator has a positive or neutral impact on the environment or is less harmful compared to others;
• “generic environmental claim” meaning any environmental claim not included in a sustainability label, whose specification is not provided in clear and evident terms through the same means of communication;
• “sustainability label” meaning any trust mark, quality mark, or equivalent, public or private, of a voluntary nature, aimed at distinguishing and promoting a product, process, or company with reference to its environmental characteristics.

 
In addition, the decree increases the categories of unfair commercial practices, including greenwashing; therefore, generic or misleading environmental claims such as “zero impact” or “environmentally neutral” become sanctionable if not supported by clear, objective, publicly available, and verifiable commitments set out in a detailed and realistic implementation plan with precise objectives and deadlines, which is periodically verified by an independent third party, whose conclusions are made available to consumers.
 
Implications for Companies
In light of the new legislation, companies communicating the environmental characteristics of their products will need to implement adequate internal tools and processes, including:

• verifying that every “environmental claim” is supported by verifiable data and evidence;
• avoiding generic communications without concrete references (e.g., “eco-friendly”, “green”, “zero impact”) unless supported by scientific evidence;
• updating online communications, labels, and promotional materials to comply with the new definitions and requirements.

The draft decree also intervenes by regulating and updating goods with digital elements, as well as the guarantee of durability and the repairability index, introducing the obligation to use a specific "harmonized notice and harmonized label". In this regard, please refer to another newsletter to be published soon.