Does EmpCo apply to UK brands?

Yes, if you sell to consumers in the EU. EmpCo binds any trader placing products before EU consumers, regardless of where the business is established. Selling through a marketplace, a distributor or your own site into an EU member state brings you within scope.

What happens to stock already in store and in transit?

There was no transition period and there is no exemption for existing stock. A swing ticket carrying a prohibited claim has been non-compliant since 27 September 2026 whether it was printed that month or eighteen months earlier. This is why the operative point for most brands is the trim and label order, not the directive's application date.

Can we still use our own sustainability label or scoring system?

Not unless it rests on a certification scheme or is established by a public authority. Self-declared labels and in-house scoring systems are caught by the directive, including scores displayed on product pages and filters.

Can we still say a product is carbon neutral?

Not on the basis of offsetting. Claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact because emissions have been offset are prohibited outright, regardless of the quality of the credits.

What counts as recognised excellent environmental performance?

A generic claim such as eco, green or environmentally friendly is only permissible where excellent environmental performance can be demonstrated and is recognised — for example under the EU Ecolabel or an equivalent scheme. In practice most generic claims in fashion will not meet that test, and withdrawing them is cheaper than defending them.

National authorities, through each member state's unfair commercial practices regime. EmpCo amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive rather than creating a standalone enforcement route, so penalties and procedures vary by country and enforcement can be triggered by competitor or consumer complaint.

Our national law has not been updated yet. Does EmpCo still apply to us?

Yes. The application date is set by the directive, not by each country's transposition. Twenty Member States were late and are subject to infringement proceedings, but consumer authorities, competitors and consumer bodies can act on the prohibited practices now, and the directive's provisions can be relied on against public bodies regardless.

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In force · 27 September 2026

Directive (EU) 2024/825

EmpCo is in force. Every claim you have live is in scope.

The Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive has applied across the EU since 27 September 2026. There was no transition period, it covers stock already on the shelf, and content published before the date is not exempt. A claim that was live on 26 September and is still live today has to be substantiated today.

Substantiate claims in software

Symolem-ID links every environmental claim on a product to the certificate or attestation behind it, registry-checked and expiry-tracked.

See how Symolem-ID substantiates green claims →

At a glance

StatusIn force since 27 September 2026

Who it bindsAny trader selling to consumers in the EU, including non-EU and UK brands, and the retailers and marketplaces that present their products

Transition periodNone. Applies to content and stock already on the market

TranspositionDeadline was 27 March 2026. The Commission opened infringement proceedings against 20 Member States on 28 May 2026 for missing it. Late transposition does not move the application date

EnforcementNational consumer authorities under each Member State's unfair commercial practices regime, on complaint by competitors, consumer bodies or qualified entities

PenaltiesFor cross-border infringements, national maximum fines of at least 4% of annual turnover

What the directive bans

EmpCo amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, adding practices that are prohibited outright. In fashion, six matter most.

01
Generic environmental claims. Terms such as environmentally friendly, eco, green or climate neutral cannot be used unless recognised excellent environmental performance can be demonstrated.
02
Carbon neutrality based on offsetting. Claims that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact because emissions have been offset are prohibited.
03
Sustainability labels not based on a certification scheme or established by a public authority. Self-declared labels and in-house scoring systems are caught.
04
Claims about the whole product when only part of it qualifies, and presenting legal requirements as a distinctive feature.
05
Future environmental performance claims without clear, objective and verifiable commitments, a detailed implementation plan, and independent third-party monitoring.
06
Durability and repairability. The amended Consumer Rights Directive now requires information on commercial guarantees of durability and on repairability where it exists, so a 'built to last' claim needs the guarantee behind it.

The separate Green Claims Directive was withdrawn by the Commission in June 2025. EmpCo is the binding law.

Where it bites in fashion

Most brands audit their sustainability report. The exposure is further forward than that.

—Product page copy and filter categories. A "sustainable" or "conscious" filter applies a generic claim across an entire assortment at once.
—Swing tickets, care labels and packaging, including stock already in store and in transit.
—Campaign lines, lookbooks and wholesale linesheets.
—In-house scoring systems and own-brand sustainability labels.
—Take-back and circularity claims that rest on offsetting or on projected future performance.

Who is liable.

Ownership of a claim does not transfer with the goods. Everyone in the chain who repeats it is making it.

Brand

The author of the claim wherever it appears: on the label, the product page, or a wholesale linesheet a retailer copies.

Retailer and department store

A trader under the UCPD, liable for third-party brands' claims on its own site and shop floor, including concession and wholesale lines.

How we help retailers →

Marketplace

Liable for the listings it presents to EU consumers.

Why substantiation is a first-mile problem

Every claim EmpCo touches resolves upstream. Fibre origin, processing, water, labour conditions — the evidence sits at the first mile, with the growers, gins and mills, and it either exists because it was specified when the supplier was nominated, or it does not exist at all. Nobody retrofits a cotton gin in eight weeks.

This is why remediation is now two jobs. Withdrawing an unsupportable claim is a communications exercise and it protects you this season. Being able to make the claim next season is a sourcing one, decided at the brief, the material specification and the supplier nomination.

The risk is not only deliberate greenwashing. Greenwishing — claims made in good faith with evidence that was never collected — is assessed on exactly the same basis, because the test is whether the average consumer is misled, not whether the brand meant well.

Four steps

If a claim is live today

01
Inventory every environmental claim across product pages, labels, packaging, filters and campaign material.
02
Assess each against the prohibited practices, separating claims that can be evidenced now from claims that cannot.
03
Remediate or withdraw. A withdrawn claim carries no liability; a defended one does.
04
Fix the source. Write the evidence requirement into the brief and the supplier nomination so the claim is available next season.

Remediation

When a claim cannot be evidenced today, it goes on a plan, not in the bin.

A claim that fails the test has two possible futures. Withdrawn for good, because the evidence will never exist. Or withdrawn for now, with a corrective action plan that produces the evidence for next season. Most claims in fashion are the second kind: the organic cotton probably is organic, the recycled polyester probably is recycled, and what is missing is the transaction certificate, the mill attestation or the test report that would prove it. A corrective action plan turns a marketing problem back into a sourcing task with an owner.

Contain
The claim comes off the product page, label order and campaign material while the evidence is missing. The product keeps selling without the claim. Nothing else about the listing changes.
Correct
The evidence requirement is written into the supplier nomination, the material specification and the purchase order. The supplier is asked for the specific document that closes the gap, in their format, with a named owner on both sides.
Clear
When the document arrives, it is checked against the certificate register and the claim is reinstated on the record, with its expiry date. If the certificate later lapses, so does the claim.

Blocked
→
CAP active
→
Cleared

The status the buyer sees on each product in Symolem-ID.

The plan lives against the product record, so buying, marketing and sourcing are looking at the same status.

The UK is outside EmpCo, not outside the rule.

The CMA has held direct fining powers over misleading environmental claims under the DMCC Act since April 2025, and its Green Claims Code applies the same tests to the same words. A UK brand selling into the EU answers to both.

UK DMCC and green claims →

Sources

Last reviewed: 28 September 2026

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Where to go next

Plain-English pages on the rules that apply to you, the evidence you need, and the people who do the work.

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