Stricter legislation against greenwashing will soon come into force

Environmental marketing that will always be deemed misleading

The amendment expands Annex 1 of the Danish Marketing Practices Act, which lists forms of commercial practice that are always misleading, to include further practices relating to climate and the environment, including:

• Displaying sustainability labels which are not based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities.
  It will be unlawful to display private sustainability labels (trust marks, quality marks or similar that highlight and promote a product, process or business by reference to their environmental and/or social characteristics) which are not certified by a third-party verification scheme.
• Claims about the product’s environmental impact based on greenhouse gas emissions offsetting.
  It will be misleading if the trader, on the basis of greenhouse gas emissions offsetting, claims that the product has a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Making generic environmental claims without being able to demonstrate “recognised excellent environmental performance” relevant to the entire claim. The use of generic environmental claims, such as “environmentally friendly”, “green” or similar terms, will be misleading unless recognised excellent environmental performance can be documented, including by compliance with the requirements of the EU Ecolabel or other officially recognised eco-labelling schemes in EU Member States such as the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.
• Making statements about the entire product or business when the benefit concerns only parts thereof.
  It will be misleading to highlight environmental benefits relating to the entire business or product if those benefits relate only to a part thereof. This is already established practice but is now being codified.
• Mentioning benefits resulting from legislation will also be misleading if a trader highlights requirements that already apply to all products in the relevant product category on the EU market as something unique to its own product. This is already established practice but is now being codified.

Environmental marketing that may be misleading

It follows from Section 5 of the Danish Marketing Practices Act that misleading marketing may, amongst other things, relate to the main characteristics of the product. The amendment will now explicitly state that, for example, environmental or social characteristics and circularity aspects such as recyclability are considered main characteristics.

The amendment also introduces a new Section 6c. Under this provision, traders who provide a service comparing products and providing information on, for example, environmental or social characteristics or circularity aspects must inform consumers about, amongst other things, the method of comparison, the suppliers of the products and the measures in place to keep the information up to date. This information is considered essential and must not be omitted.

Section 5 of the Danish Marketing Practices Act is also extended to include two new forms of marketing which, following a specific assessment, may be misleading and therefore unlawful:

• Environmental claims related to future environmental performance, if they are not accompanied by clear, objective and verifiable commitments and targets, documented in a realistic and detailed implementation plan. An independent third-party expert should regularly monitor the trader’s progress.
• Advertising of irrelevant benefits that do not result from any feature of the product or the business, for example, a claim that sheets of paper do not contain plastic. This is already standard practice but is now being codified.

On 18 May 2026, the European Commission published a Q&A related to the Empowering Consumers Directive, which, amongst other things, clarifies the definition of generic environmental claims, the demonstration of recognised excellent environmental performance, the requirements for the use of sustainability labels, etc.

Furthermore, on 4 September 2026, the Danish Consumer Ombudsman published revised recommendations for traders' environmental marketing, replacing the recommendations from 2024. The revised recommendations can be accessed here (in Danish; English version has yet to be published).

What is the status of the Green Claims Directive?

In March 2023, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a new directive on climate and environmental claims (the Green Claims Directive), which was intended to combat greenwashing. However, in June 2025 the European Commission announced that it intended to withdraw the proposal.

The announcement appears to have followed disagreement over the scope of the directive, including whether small and medium-sized enterprises should be exempted. The proposal has not been formally withdrawn, and it remains uncertain whether it has been definitively abandoned. 

Do you need help ensuring compliance with the new legislation on green marketing?

If you would like advice on how your business can ensure compliance with the legislation on environmental marketing and prevent the risks of greenwashing, you are welcome to contact one of our specialists. 

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