What the UK Green Claims Code means for the textile industry

Last updated 20/01/2022

On 20 September 2021, the UK Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) published The Green Claims Code, new guidance to help businesses remain compliant under consumer protection law when making environmental claims.  

What is the CMA? 

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the United Kingdom’s competition regulator, a government department responsible for ensuring fair competition and preventing anti-competitive market activities.  

What does the Green Claims Code cover? 

The guidance aims to protect consumers from misleading environmental claims at a time when ‘greenwashing’ and the unsubstantiated green claims of brands are a growing concern for environmentally-conscious consumers.  

The Code is also intended to minimise and mitigate unfair competition and ensure a level playing field. 

The CMA has set out six key principles:  

• Claims must be truthful and accurate 
• Claims must be clear and unambiguous 
• Claims must not omit or hide important relevant information 
• Comparisons must be fair and meaningful 
• Claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service 
• Claims must be substantiated 

Although the focus of the Code is on brands’ environmental claims, the guidance is also applicable to the wider category of sustainability claims.  

This coincides with new research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), which revealed that 49% of marketers are wary of working on sustainability marketing campaigns due to the fear of their company or clients being accused of ‘greenwashing’. 

Who is impacted by the new Code? 

Any organisation that is marketing or making claims of the positive environmental impact of its products or services should pay close attention to the guidance. This is especially true for sectors where consumers have expressed concerns about misleading or non-transparent green claims, such as the textiles and fashion industry.  

For example, when making organic cotton claims or claims that products are vegan and free of animal derivatives.  

Cecilia Parker Aranha, the CMA’s director of consumer protection has stated: “Our work so far indicates that there could be issues with greenwashing in the fashion sector and that is why we’ve prioritised this area for further investigation.

“Now is the time for the fashion industry to take a fresh look at what they’re telling customers and make any changes needed to comply with the law. Businesses that can’t back up their claims risk action from the CMA and damage to their reputation in the long-run.”

The Green Claims Code has a broad reach covering advertising, product labelling, packaging and brand names.  

It’s also worth noting that the Code is not new legislation but draws upon existing regulations such as the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPUT) 2008 and Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008. 

What is the timeline for enforcement? 

After an initial bedding-in period, the CMA will carry out a full review of misleading environmental and sustainability claims made by businesses starting in January 2022. However, the CMA has emphasised that it may act before the formal review begins if it finds clear evidence of breaches, particularly in sectors where the practice is deemed to be prevalent.  

How can companies ensure compliance?  

When making any green claims, businesses must comply with consumer protection law and any sector-specific regulations that apply to the product or service.  

Alongside the 6 principles, the CMA has also released a checklist to help companies adhere to the guidance set out in the Code.  

Specifically for the textile and apparel industry, testing and verification are the best way to ensure green claims are substantiated. For instance, using the examples above, certification to recognised industry standards such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) would be required for organic cotton claims with DNA as well as pesticides/ hazardous substances testing involved, and vegan claims can be validated through a vegan verification process.  

Find out more about how our sustainability services can help give you peace of mind when making green claims.