Following a call for evidence and a stakeholder round table meeting, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its draft environmental claims guidance for consultation.
The FPA welcomes this move, although feels it falls short in not seeking immediate enforcement for violators. The CMA believes businesses want to do the right thing but may inadvertently mislead, which may account for its reference to at least 40% of environmental claims misleading the public. The CMA intends running a ‘convince’ campaign, following which if a business continues to make misleading environmental claims the CMA will take enforcement action.
FPA Executive Director Martin Kersh says: “Applying these principles will help to overcome what amounts to environmental fraud (greenwashing being too mild a phrase) and create a level playing field for those businesses who pay large sums of money to have all claims tested by independent organisations. We applaud the CMA for providing the guidance but would like to see enforcement from day one so businesses know they will be punished for side-stepping the guidance.”
The guidance document is here.
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