The EmpCo Directive from 27 September 2026

What Companies Need to Know Now About Greenwashing and Manufacturer Guarantees

Advertising with terms such as “climate-neutral,” “environmentally friendly” or self-created sustainability labels has been a standard part of the marketing toolkit for many years. From 27 September 2026, a significant part of this practice will become legally risky, regardless of the size of the company. The basis is the so-called EmpCo Directive, which is being transposed into German law through amendments to the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG) and changes to the Introductory Act to the German Civil Code (EGBGB). This article explains what is changing in concrete terms, with a focus on the two areas of greatest practical relevance: greenwashing in advertising and new labelling requirements for manufacturer guarantees.

What Is the EmpCo Directive?

“EmpCo” stands for “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition.” It refers to Directive (EU) 2024/825, which tightens EU-wide rules on environmental and sustainability claims in advertising. It forms part of the European Green Deal, was adopted on 28 February 2024 and entered into force on 27 March 2024. The Member States were subsequently given time to transpose the requirements into national law; the new rules must be applied by 27 September 2026 at the latest.

An important point for understanding the new rules is that the EmpCo Directive is not identical to the also-discussed “Green Claims Directive,” which was intended to introduce additional requirements for the verification of voluntary environmental claims. The Green Claims Directive is currently on hold, whereas the EmpCo Directive is proceeding as planned and has already been firmly incorporated into German law.

The Roadmap in Germany

In Germany, the Directive is being implemented through the Third Act Amending the German Unfair Competition Act. The German Bundestag adopted the required legislative amendments on 19 December 2025, and the legislation was promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette on 19 February 2026, specifically as Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 43. At the same time, information requirements concerning statutory warranty rights and guarantees were incorporated into the EGBGB.

The vast majority of the new provisions will apply uniformly from 27 September 2026. According to individual sources, one amendment already entered into force on 19 June 2026. Under the current German legislation, there is no general transitional or sell-off period for existing advertising materials, packaging or labels. Companies should therefore not rely on being able to sell existing stock after the cut-off date under the old rules.

At the last minute, the legislature also adopted Section 15b UWG, which will remain in force until 27 September 2028. Under Section 15b UWG, when asserting a claim for injunctive relief pursuant to Section 8(1) UWG in relation to violations of the EmpCo provisions (Sections 5(2) No. 1, 5b(3a) UWG and the new numbers of the Annex, Nos. 2a, 4a, 4b, 4c, 10a and 23d), the following criteria must be taken into account:

• the seriousness of the legal violation,
• the efforts undertaken by the trader to remedy the violation,
• the costs associated with remedying the violation, and
• the environmental impact associated with remedying the violation.

New Limits on Environmental Claims: The End of Traditional Greenwashing

The core of the reform concerns the UWG itself. The Directive tightens the general prohibition of misleading practices under Section 5 UWG and expands the Annex to Section 3(3) UWG, the so-called “black list.” Commercial practices included on this list are per se prohibited, without requiring a comprehensive balancing of interests in each individual case. In addition, Section 2(2) UWG will contain the key statutory definitions of terms such as environmental claim and sustainability label.

What Will Be Prohibited in the Future

In practical terms, this will include:

• General environmental claims without evidence: Statements such as “environmentally friendly,” “eco” or “sustainable” will be impermissible without reliable evidence.
• Climate neutrality achieved solely through compensation: Companies advertising a product as “climate-neutral” when this is based exclusively on the purchase of carbon credits will violate the new rules. Such product claims will be prohibited.
• Self-created sustainability labels: A private seal of approval without a recognised certification system behind it is impermissible. Even a recognised label only covers the area for which it was actually awarded. Using it beyond its scope may still constitute a misleading practice.
• Misleading statements about social characteristics: Misleading references to fair working conditions or social standards without evidence will also be prohibited. EmpCo therefore does not apply only to environmental claims.
• Planned obsolescence and durability: The Directive also addresses commercial practices relating to the durability and repairability of goods. Consumers are to receive clearer information about product lifespans and repairability, while practices involving planned obsolescence are specifically addressed.

Notably, the prohibitions are linked to the specific advertising claim, not to the size of the company. Unlike sustainability reporting requirements, there are no thresholds here. Even a small business advertising a product as “eco” or “environmentally friendly” will be subject to the new rules.

New Labelling Requirements: Statutory Warranty Rights and Manufacturer Guarantees

In addition to the prohibition of greenwashing, the EmpCo Directive contains a second element that is often underestimated in public discussion: EU-wide standardised labels concerning statutory warranty rights and voluntary manufacturer guarantees.

The legal basis is Article 22a of the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU, inserted by the EmpCo Directive (EU) 2024/825. The specific design is governed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960 of 25 September 2025: Annex I concerns the warranty notice, while Annex II concerns the guarantee label. At national level, the information requirement has been incorporated into Article 246 Section 1 of the Introductory Act to the German Civil Code (EGBGB).

Statutory Warranty Rights and Guarantees Are Legally Different

For practical purposes, it is important to distinguish between the two, as they are frequently confused:

• Statutory warranty rights are the seller’s statutory liability for defects. They apply automatically to every B2C purchase contract, last for two years (Section 438 German Civil Code) and cannot be excluded to the detriment of consumers in consumer transactions (Section 476(1) German Civil Code).
• A guarantee, by contrast, is a voluntary commitment by the seller or manufacturer that goes beyond the consumer’s statutory rights (Section 443 German Civil Code). Both rights exist alongside each other. A manufacturer’s guarantee does not replace the seller’s statutory warranty obligations.

The Warranty Notice

From the relevant cut-off date, businesses selling goods to consumers must provide pre-contractual information about statutory warranty rights, using a harmonised notice prescribed by the European Commission, both in physical retail stores and in online commerce.

The label is an EU-wide harmonised notice informing consumers of their statutory warranty rights of at least two years and contains a QR code linking to the official EU “Your Europe” portal, where consumer rights are explained in the relevant national language.

The legislator leaves largely open exactly how the notice must be displayed “in a prominent manner.” Recital 28 of the Directive provides examples: in physical retail, for example, a prominently displayed poster on a wall in the store, next to the checkout; in online retail, as a general reminder on the seller’s website.

Formally, the notice must be displayed in colour in online retail, whereas it may be displayed in black and white in physical stores. In physical retail, the minimum size is also A4.

The Guarantee Label (GARAN Label) for Manufacturer Guarantees

A second label will also be introduced, specifically concerning manufacturer guarantees relating to durability. Several practical details are important:

• Threshold: Only manufacturer guarantees lasting more than two years are subject to the labelling requirement. An exactly two-year manufacturer guarantee does not trigger the labelling requirement because the label is intended to highlight durability exceeding the statutory warranty period.
• Manufacturer guarantees only, not retailer guarantees: The requirement expressly applies only to manufacturer guarantees. If a retailer provides its own guarantee, such as a three-year functional guarantee or satisfaction guarantee, this does not trigger the labelling requirement, unless the retailer presents itself as the manufacturer by placing its own name or trademark on the goods.
• Who creates the label: According to the European Commission’s guidelines, the manufacturer generally enters the brand, model and guarantee duration on the label, but is not directly obliged to provide it. If the manufacturer does not provide the label, the retailer may complete it itself. However, the other prescribed elements may not be altered.
• The label does not replace the guarantee terms: The GARAN label does not replace the guarantee terms required under Section 479 German Civil Code. These must still be requested from the manufacturer, provided in the store, linked directly to the product in the online shop and attached to the order confirmation.

Repairability as a Further Element

The Directive also introduces information requirements concerning repairability. A repairability score calculated on an EU-wide basis already exists for smartphones and tablets. For other categories of goods, businesses are instead required to provide information about the availability of spare parts, repair and maintenance instructions, and the minimum duration of software updates.

The Connection with the UWG: How Will the New Rules Be Enforced?

For companies, it is important to understand that EmpCo does not create an isolated special area of law. Instead, it is directly integrated into the existing system of unfair competition law. This applies both to the greenwashing prohibitions and to the new labelling requirements:

• Violations of the pre-contractual information requirements concerning statutory warranty rights and guarantees also constitute unfair commercial practices within the meaning of Sections 5 and 5a UWG.
• In practical terms, this means that competitors and qualified consumer associations may assert claims for injunctive relief. Under certain circumstances, consumers may also assert claims for damages (Sections 5, 5a and 9 UWG).
• This is not an entirely new phenomenon. Even today, advertising a guarantee without the five mandatory pieces of information required under Section 479 German Civil Code constitutes an infringement of Section 3a UWG that may give rise to a warning letter. This was confirmed by the German Federal Court of Justice in its judgment of 10 November 2022, I ZR 241/19. EmpCo strengthens this existing system and makes it additionally visible and easier to monitor through mandatory labels.
• Regulatory sanctions: In addition to traditional civil-law enforcement through warning letters and actions for injunctive relief, the UWG also provides for regulatory sanctions in certain circumstances. However, these do not apply automatically to every UWG violation. They are linked to widespread violations or violations with a Union-wide dimension within the meaning of Section 5c UWG, which defines the scope of this regulatory enforcement mechanism. In practice, enforcement under the UWG remains predominantly civil in nature, for example through warning letters and claims for injunctive relief.

Ultimately, the new EmpCo requirements merge with the established toolkit of unfair competition law. The UWG has long provided the framework for misleading practices and information requirements; EmpCo now specifically sharpens this framework for sustainability communications, guarantee advertising and information concerning statutory warranty rights.

Practical Recommendations for Companies

Given the breadth of the changes, companies should prepare systematically:

1. Inventory advertising claims: Record all environmental, climate-related and social claims used on packaging, websites, in catalogues and on social media channels and verify that they are supported by reliable evidence.
2. Review your own labels: Either support self-developed sustainability labels with a recognised certification system or replace them with clear, substantiated claims.
3. Review guarantee and warranty processes: Determine whether manufacturer guarantees extend beyond two years and are therefore subject to the labelling requirement, and initiate the process of obtaining the GARAN label from the manufacturer at an early stage.
4. Implement the labels technically: Integrate the warranty notice and, where applicable, the guarantee label into online shops, checkout areas and order confirmations in accordance with the applicable formatting requirements, including colour and minimum size.
5. Provide repairability information where the relevant product categories are affected.
6. Train employees, particularly marketing and sales teams, so that new advertising claims are formulated in a legally compliant manner from the outset.

Conclusion

The EmpCo Directive marks a paradigm shift in advertising and information practices. From 27 September 2026, companies making sustainability claims must be able to substantiate them, while companies advertising manufacturer guarantees will have to make this information visible through standardised labels.

Both requirements are closely integrated into the existing system of unfair competition law through Sections 5 and 5a UWG. Violations can therefore create not only reputational risks but also concrete legal risks, ranging from warning letters to regulatory scrutiny.

Since many details, such as the precise placement of the labels or the scope of individual prohibitions, will only be clarified through future case law, an early, case-specific legal review of a company’s advertising and labelling practices is advisable.

As a Specialist Lawyer for Intellectual Property Law, I would be pleased to assist you in aligning your sustainability communications and guarantee processes with the new legal requirements.

Note: This article does not replace a legal assessment of an individual case. In particular, regarding whether a general transitional period applies to existing stock, the legal position shortly before the new provisions enter into force should be monitored carefully.