Luxembourg implements the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive: new rules on greenwashing, sustainability claims and consumer information

The Luxembourg law of 9 June 2026 transposes Directive (EU) 2024/825 on empowering consumers for the green transition (the “Law”). The Law amends the Luxembourg Consumer Code to strengthen the rules on consumer information and commercial practices where sustainability claims are made to consumers. It becomes applicable as of 27 September 2026.

The new rules target misleading practices that may influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, including greenwashing, unreliable sustainability labels, practices associated with early obsolescence (i.e. false claims on a product’s durability or reparability), or other sustainability-related characteristics. They also expand pre-contractual information requirements, in particular as regards durability, reparability, digital updates and the legal guarantee of conformity. Their purpose is to ensure that consumers receive clearer, more reliable and more comparable information, while promoting a level playing field between traders.

Although introduced through the consumer-protection legal framework, the new rules are expected to have a broader impact on businesses using sustainability-related or ESG messaging in consumer-facing commercial communications.

Who is concerned?

The Law applies to professionals in their business relations with consumers (B2C). Business-to-business (B2B) relations are out of scope. The new obligations may concern retailers, but also financial institutions, insurance companies, investment funds, and digital platforms.

Groups operating across several jurisdictions should also check whether their practices and in particular ESG communications prepared centrally are compliant with the revised Luxembourg consumer protection rules.

Stronger rules in relation to greenwashing and early obsolescence: extended blacklist of commercial practices

A key feature of the Law is the stricter approach to environmental claims, sustainability labels and early obsolescence claims.

The Law expands the list of commercial practices that may be regarded as misleading. Examples include making an environmental claim about future environmental performance without clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments set out in a detailed and realistic implementation plan or advertising benefits to consumers that are irrelevant and do not result from any feature of the product or business.

The Law also extensively modifies the blacklist of commercial practices that are prohibited under all circumstances, i.e. for which  there is no need to demonstrate the negative impact of the practice on the average consumer’s transactional decision.

In particular, the following practices are blacklisted:

• using generic environmental claims without recognised excellent environmental performance which is relevant to the claim is prohibited; 
• making environmental claims about an entire product or a trader’s entire business when the claim concerns only a certain aspect of the product or a specific activity of the trader’s business;
• claiming, on the basis of greenhouse gas offsetting, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Such claims are allowed only where they are based on the actual lifecycle impact of the product concerned and not on greenhouse gas offsetting outside the product’s value chain;
• displaying a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or not established by public authorities; 
• engaging in practices associated with early obsolescence, including pursuing a commercial policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited lifespan so that it prematurely becomes obsolete or non-functional after a certain period or after a predetermined intensity of use, or presenting a good as allowing repair when it does not. 

Enhanced consumer information requirements

The Law also expands the scope of pre-contractual information to be provided to consumers in a clear and comprehensible manner. This includes information on durability, reparability and with respect to digital goods, about the availability of updates. That information must be provided in line with the accessibility requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/882 (see our previous newsflash on accessibility requirements).

In addition, as reports have shown that consumers are often unaware of their rights under the legal guarantee of conformity, the pre-contractual information must include, in a prominent manner, a reminder of the existence of that legal guarantee of conformity for goods and its main elements, including its minimum duration of two years, through the harmonised notice provided by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960 of 25 September 2025. 

The same Implementing Regulation also provides for a harmonised label for certain commercial guarantees of durability.

Sanctions

Non-compliance with the new rules is subject to the existing enforcement regime under the Luxembourg Consumer Code.

Depending on the applicable legal basis, sanctions may include fines ranging from EUR 251 to EUR 15,000 for breaches with respect to pre-contractual information requirements, and fines from EUR 251 to EUR 120,000 for prohibited commercial practices. They may also include compliance orders issued by the Minister competent for consumer protection, and actions for cessation or injunction.

Commission guidance

To support the proper and consistent application of the new rules, the European Commission has published a Q&A on the Directive. It gives practical guidance on key concepts such as environmental claims, sustainability labels and carbon neutrality claims, and should help companies better understand how the new rules are likely to be interpreted and applied in practice. 

While not legally binding, the Q&A provides a useful indication of the Commission’s expected approach.

Next steps 

In view of the application date of 27 September 2026, companies should assess their compliance readiness, in particular by:

• Reviewing environmental and sustainability claims used in marketing materials
• Assessing whether sustainability labels rely on a valid certification scheme or public framework
• Reviewing pre-contractual information provided to consumers
• Training relevant legal, compliance, ESG and marketing teams