EmpCo: who enforces the rules on green claims?
Has enforcement started?

Since 27 September 2026, the EU EmpCo directive (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition) has banned, in all circumstances, generic environmental claims such as "environmentally friendly" and carbon neutrality promises based on offsetting. These bans, however, apply only in the countries that have transposed the text. In France, until the transposition law is passed, no inspector can rely on the EmpCo blacklist.

The risk has not gone away. The DGCCRF (the French consumer protection authority), the courts and, outside France, the authorities of the countries that have transposed the directive already have the tools to penalise a misleading claim, and a French company selling in Germany or Italy is already subject to the new rules of those countries.

1Who enforces green claims rules in France?

In France, 4 bodies can challenge an environmental claim, with very different powers and timescales. None of them is waiting for the transposition law to act, since French law already penalises misleading advertising.

The DGCCRF, France's consumer watchdog

The Directorate-General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) is the lead authority. Its officers may demand all the evidence behind a claim, order the company to amend it subject to a periodic penalty payment, propose a settlement or refer the case to the public prosecutor. It relies on Article L. 121-2 of the French Consumer Code, which expressly covers misleading claims about the environmental impact of a product. In 2023 and 2024, it inspected more than 3,000 establishments on this issue in France, more than 15% of which were in serious breach.

Under French law, a misleading commercial practice is a criminal offence. Article L. 132-2 provides for 2 years' imprisonment and a €300,000 fine for an individual, an amount multiplied by 5 for a company, and 5 years and €750,000 when the practice is committed online, since the law of 10 May 2024. The fine may be raised to 10% of turnover, or to 80% of the campaign spending when the deception concerns the environment. In July 2025, SHEIN accepted a €40 million settlement in France, partly over an environmental claim it could not substantiate.

The courts, on a claim brought by a competitor or an association

An approved consumer association, an environmental protection association or a competitor may go directly to court, without involving the DGCCRF. On 23 October 2025, in a case brought by 3 associations, the Paris Judicial Court ruled that the way TotalEnergies presented its carbon neutrality ambition was misleading. For a company, this is the least predictable route, because it does not depend on any inspection programme.

The environment ministry, for carbon neutrality claims

In France, a carbon neutrality claim has been subject to a separate regime since 1 January 2023: the advertiser must publish the product's emissions assessment, a reduction pathway and the offsetting projects selected. Enforcement lies with the minister responsible for the environment, who may impose an administrative fine. EmpCo will go further by banning any neutrality claim based on offsetting, which makes the question of a company's carbon neutrality even more delicate.

The advertising self-regulator (ARPP), before broadcast

The Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP), France's advertising self-regulatory organisation, is not a public authority. It publishes a recommendation on sustainable development, reviews television adverts before broadcast, and its ethics jury handles complaints from the public. Its opinions are not penalties, but they are published with the advertiser's name, which is often enough to get a campaign withdrawn.

2Has enforcement started since 27 September?

In France, not on the basis of EmpCo: until the transposition law is passed, no inspection can be based on the directive. The DGCCRF's inspections of green claims are continuing, however, on the basis of French law, and nothing suspended them at the EU deadline.

France's late transposition

France was required to transpose the directive by 27 March 2026 at the latest. Articles 20 and 21 of the bill adapting French law to EU law, known as DDADUE from its French initials, do so. The Senate adopted it on 18 February 2026, and the text was then sent to the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, which referred it to 4 committees for an opinion on 23 April 2026. Its legislative file is where to follow its debate in the chamber, then the publication of the law, which alone will make the blacklist enforceable in France.

On 28 May 2026, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to 20 Member States that were late, France among them. This is the first step of an infringement procedure: it targets the State, not companies, and creates no new obligation for them.

A directive that has not been transposed is not binding on companies

A directive that has not been transposed cannot be enforced by the authorities against a company. The DGCCRF therefore cannot penalise a claim solely because it appears on the EmpCo blacklist. A court hearing a dispute does, however, interpret French law in the light of the directive: a generic claim that a company cannot substantiate remains exposed as a misleading commercial practice.

At a webinar on 12 June 2026, the DGCCRF warned that France would very probably not be ready to operate the new rules by the deadline. It said its follow-up would be broadly educational in an initial phase, then corrective or punitive depending on the seriousness of the practice and its effect on consumers.

Elsewhere in the EU, a gradual build-up of enforcement

In the countries that transposed on time, the new rules have applied since 27 September 2026. In June, the authorities agreed on a gradual approach for products already on the market, which favours compliance reminders and corrective measures first. The first penalties could come from coordinated actions at EU level and from claims brought by competitors.

3Who enforces EmpCo in other EU countries?

The law is the same everywhere, but the enforcer changes from one country to the next. A French company selling online in several EU countries is subject to each of them for its sales to consumers living there.

Germany and Austria: mainly competitors, before the courts

Germany transposed the directive through a law of 12 February 2026, published on 19 February, which amends its Act against Unfair Competition. Enforcement there runs mainly through private law: a competitor, a trade association or an approved organisation sends a formal cease-and-desist notice, with costs attached, then applies to the court for interim relief if necessary. An administrative fine is possible only for a large-scale infringement, as part of a coordinated action at EU level.

Austria adopted its law on 7 July 2026, with one particular feature: a 3-year exemption from private-law court actions for products placed on the market before 27 September 2026. These products remain non-compliant, but a competitor cannot obtain their swift withdrawal through the courts.

Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands: a public authority

• In Italy, Legislative Decree No. 30 of 20 February 2026 amended the Consumer Code, and the competition authority (AGCM, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) may prohibit a practice and impose a fine from €5,000 to €10 million.
• In Ireland, Statutory Instrument No. 124 of 2026 was made on 27 March 2026, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has published guidance for businesses-regulations-2026).
• In the Netherlands, the law has been passed by the 2 houses of parliament, and the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), which already oversaw sustainability claims, has been designated to enforce it.

Spain, Belgium and Sweden had not transposed by the deadline: like France, these 3 countries are among the 20 States that received a letter of formal notice on 28 May 2026. The EmpCo rules for an online seller therefore apply from different dates depending on the customer's country.

4What happens to products already on the shelves?

Packaging printed in August with the words "eco-responsible" does not vanish from the shelves on 27 September. The authorities anticipated this situation, which affects almost every consumer goods brand.

The common position of 30 June 2026

On 30 June 2026, the consumer protection authorities of the Member States, meeting in the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network, adopted a common position on old stock. It mainly covers products, packaging and labels manufactured, ordered, distributed or shelved before 27 September 2026, and expects online and advertising claims, which are easier to change, to be corrected without delay. It is not legally binding, but both the DGCCRF and the Dutch ACM have taken it up in their communications to businesses.

Its principles come down, in particular, to 4 ideas. The company must act in good faith and adapt its products quickly. The authorities may phase their inspections where the transition difficulties are genuine. They avoid disproportionate measures, such as destroying or recalling stock, which France already restricts through its ban on destroying unsold goods. Finally, they may favour reminders of the rules and corrective measures before any penalty.

What inspectors look at

According to the DGCCRF, the authorities will take into account the volume of stock, the shelf life of the products and the technical feasibility of a correction. A stock of laundry detergent bottles printed in 2025 is not treated like a website, which can be corrected in a day, and redesigning packaging takes several months. The Commission's questions and answers, updated in September 2026, point out that claims must be compliant from the deadline, stock included. Any tolerance is therefore at the discretion of each authority, with no written derogation in the directive.

5What can trigger an inspection?

An inspection is rarely selected at random. It most often follows a consumer report, a complaint or a coordinated action between countries, and each of these routes has its own logic.

Consumer reports

In France, consumers report questionable practices on SignalConso, the DGCCRF's online reporting platform. In 2025, reports related to the ecological transition rose by 65% compared with 2024, according to the review published on 8 July 2026. These reports guide investigations, and a claim visible on a product sold in supermarkets attracts more of them than a statement in a CSR (corporate social responsibility) report.

Coordinated actions at EU level

When a practice affects several countries, the Commission coordinates a joint action by the national authorities. These coordinated actions have already led 21 airlines to drop their carbon offsetting messages, in November 2025, and Coca-Cola and Nestlé Waters to correct their recycled bottle claims, in May 2025 and March 2026. They most often end with commitments from the company, on pain of national penalties.

Alerts from associations and complaints from competitors

In June 2026, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) sent the CPC network an alert about energy suppliers, including TotalEnergies, Engie, Eni Plenitude and Shell, on behalf of 12 associations from 11 countries. Alerts of this kind triggered the actions on airlines and bottles. Competitors, for their part, monitor the claims made in their market, especially in Germany, where a formal notice can follow within a few days of a claim being published.

6What to do while waiting for the French law

Even before the French law is passed, 3 situations already expose a company to an inspection or legal action, depending on the country where it sells and what it claims.

• A generic claim, or a carbon neutrality claim based on offsetting, published in France remains exposed under the French law on misleading commercial practices.
• The same claim, visible to consumers in Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands or Austria, has fallen under the EmpCo blacklist since 27 September 2026.
• Packaging reprinted or a product launched after the deadline does not benefit from the tolerance granted to old stock in those countries.

The method is the same as for French compliance: list your claims by medium and by sales country, keep the evidence for each one, then withdraw or rewrite those that do not stand up. A specific, quantified claim, such as "80% recycled material, certificate available", remains permitted everywhere. Our 3-question test helps spot risky wording, and the EmpCo timeline sets out the French deadline.

At Projet Celsius, we consider that waiting for the French law offers no protection to a company that also sells in other EU countries, where its online shop and translated product pages have been subject to the new rules since 27 September 2026. A quantified claim relies on a measurement, often a life cycle assessment or a Bilan Carbone® (the French carbon accounting method), and our environmental claims review organises this work across marketing, CSR and legal teams.

7Key takeaways

• In France, no inspection can be based on EmpCo until the transposition law, contained in the DDADUE bill, is passed.
• The DGCCRF enforces French law, which punishes misleading commercial practices with fines of up to 10% of turnover, and has announced an initially educational approach.
• Competitors and associations may go to court without waiting for the authorities, as the ruling against TotalEnergies in October 2025 showed.
• In Germany, Austria, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, the new rules have applied since 27 September 2026, with a tolerance for old stock.

For the detail of banned wording, see the list of banned environmental claims; for all the texts governing environmental communication, see the French and EU framework.

Further resources

Frequently asked questions

1Who enforces the EmpCo directive in France?

The DGCCRF is the authority responsible for policing misleading environmental claims, on the basis of the French Consumer Code. As long as the directive has not been transposed, it cannot penalise a claim solely because it appears on the EmpCo blacklist. The courts, when a case is brought by competitors or associations, may also rule against a misleading claim, and the environment ministry oversees carbon neutrality claims.

2Has EmpCo enforcement started?

Not in France as long as the directive has not been transposed: the DGCCRF enforces French law. In the countries that have transposed it, such as Germany or Italy, the rules have applied since 27 September 2026, with an initial phase in which the authorities favour compliance reminders and corrective measures.

3What is the fine for a misleading environmental claim?

In France, a misleading commercial practice is punishable by 2 years' imprisonment and a €300,000 fine for an individual, €1.5 million for a company, and by 5 years and €750,000 when committed online. The fine may reach 10% of turnover, or 80% of the campaign spending for an environmental claim. In Italy, the AGCM may impose fines from €5,000 to €10 million.

4Do I have to destroy packaging that has already been printed?

No. The common position adopted on 30 June 2026 by the European consumer protection authorities rules out disproportionate measures, such as destruction or recall, for stock manufactured or ordered before 27 September 2026. The company must act in good faith and correct its claims quickly. A web page must be corrected without delay, and a reprint does not fall within this tolerance.

5Does EmpCo apply to a French company selling in Germany?

Yes, for its sales to German consumers, as Germany has applied the new rules since 27 September 2026. Enforcement there runs mainly through competitors and associations, which may send a formal cease-and-desist notice and then go to court. A translated product page or a website delivering to Germany is enough to create the exposure.

6When will France transpose EmpCo?

Through the DDADUE bill, adopted by the Senate on 18 February 2026 and then sent to the National Assembly. The date of the law depends on when the Assembly puts it on its agenda. The European Commission sent France a letter of formal notice on 28 May 2026 over this delay.

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