What will the new Brussels rules mean for Lithuania? It will respond to both producers and consumers

The European Commission has taken the initiative against the practice of greenwashing, better known in Lithuania as “green lie” or “green brainwashing”. It has been observed that a number of companies cover themselves with green slogans and emphasize the ecological origin of the product to make the product more attractive to customers, but these claims are not always based on reality.

After this term, the term includes not only those who lie about the environmental impact of a product or service, but also falsely claim that their products are manufactured to the highest standards of labor quality without exploiting cheap labor in third countries. .

A study conducted by the European Commission in conjunction with national consumer protection services found that of 344 questionable complaints investigated, up to 42% were due to product greening or fair labor practices. the statements were lies. More than half of the manufacturers did not provide enough information to adequately substantiate their environmental claims, 37 percent. In some cases, the products only had abstract statements such as “sustainable”, “environmentally friendly” or “conscious”.

The “green lie” began to spread as consumers began to choose more environmentally friendly products, the most common offenders in this area were the textile industry, cosmetic manufacturers and manufacturers of household products.

European Union Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said: “More and more people want a greener life. Congratulations to companies that offer environmentally friendly products and services. Unfortunately, not everyone is honest, leading consumers to lie about caring for the environment. The European Commission is committed to helping consumers choose a green and sustainable way and to tackle “green brainwashing”. This is one of the priorities of the New Consumer Agenda adopted last fall. “

The next steps for the European Commission will be to contact national governments and consumer protection services to highlight the activities of individual companies. The broader fight against liars on labels will be part of the “New Consumer Agenda”, which aims to encourage consumers to switch to organic products by 2025, increase consumer protection and intensify the fight against commercial practices. unfair online.

Delfi spoke with Kristina Šermukšnyte-Alešiūnienė, chair of the Bioeconomy and Agroma Food Committee of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, about the impact of the new standards on Lithuanian producers. According to her, the new rules shouldn’t cause a lot of headaches for a company that has conducted business in good faith. “Based on the information currently available, it seems that the new rules should not cause any problems for Lithuanian producers. If the company has so far followed the established procedures and has not tampered with the information provided to the consumer on respect for the environment and the origin of the product that it markets, it should not feel any impact. “It is our producers who develop sustainable and environmentally friendly products that are in a better position to compete in the market, since the number of unfair competitors will decrease,” said the interlocutor.

The new rules against green manipulation were due to take effect last year, but at the request of lobbyists for foreign companies, they were postponed until early March this year. More time was requested to prepare for 2022, but efforts to delay it further were not fruitful. “It just came to our attention then. Of course, various challenges can arise in the practice of applying the rules, but at the moment we are in a pretty positive frame of mind,” said K. Š. Alešiūniene.

Dalia Malinauskienė, Head of the International and Public Relations Division of the State Service for the Protection of Consumer Rights, said that two bills are currently being prepared, thanks to which the EU initiative would be transferred to the Lithuanian legal framework. “Currently, there are no laws adopted in the European Union regulating the use of green claims in detail, with the exception of the Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices, the provisions of which have been transposed into Lithuanian legislation through the Unfair Commercial Practices Insurance Act ( It should be noted that in Lithuania – the requirements of Article 5 of the Advertising Law). Therefore, the findings of the study mentioned above will be used in the impact assessment of 2 new legislative proposals related to consumer empowerment in green transformation and the substantiation of green declarations, which are mentioned in the “New Consumer Agenda,” “he said. D. Malinauskienė.

Last year, SCRPA itself began investigating fake marketing of products under organic cover. “In response to trends in recent years, consumers are becoming more responsible and more focused on whether the product they buy is made of sustainable materials, is eco-friendly or advertises that the company supports sustainable consumption, and advertisers advertise cosmetics. , toys, clothing and other products, increasingly use green claims, 2020 The State Consumer Rights Protection Service (SCRPA) has been monitoring the field of green claims advertising. During monitoring, SCRPA inspected 15 economic entities and evaluated almost 100 ecological claims on selected websites, such as “organic”, “natural”, “made from recycled materials”, “environmentally friendly”, “organic”, etc. The monitoring results showed that entrepreneurs did not they always have evidence to support the veracity of green statements, ”said a representative of the service.

According to the representative of the service, the SCRPA provided recommendations to employers on the correction of claims, reported that the ecological claims used in advertising are important information that influences the economic choices of consumers and shapes their attitudes and behaviors, and warned that The Advertising Law prohibits misleading advertising. . The evaluated websites will continue to be monitored and, if the violations are not corrected, the appropriate sanctions will be taken.