During a webinar held on 12 June 2026, Ambroise Pascal, the DGCCRF’s Ecological Transition Officer, and his team addressed the key issues raised by the entry into force of Directive (EU) 2024/825, which aims to combat commercial practices amounting to greenwashing. The first major section of their presentation focused on sustainability labels (and the subsequent question-and-answer session).
For the introductory section of this webinar, see the article Everything you need to know about Directive (EU) 2024/825 and unfair greenwashing practices.
“As you know, before the Directive, there was no legal definition of what constitutes a label. But there was a fairly widespread recognition, both amongst the supervisory authority and consumer protection organisations, that not all labels are created equal,” began Alice Chonik, deputy head of the Consumer Law Office at the DGCCRF.
Misinterpretation of a label (where environmental or sustainable claims are made even though the label only guarantees the absence of substances harmful to human health), use of a label whilst not (or no longer) being a member, highlighting a certification without complying with its conditions…: inspections have always been approached from the perspective of misleading commercial practices, and will continue to be so under Directive (EU) 2024/825.
Definition
This Directive defines sustainability labels (SLs) as “any voluntary trust mark, quality mark or equivalent, either public or private, that aims to set apart and promote a product, a process or a business by reference to its environmental or social characteristics, or both, and excludes any mandatory label required under Union or national …
