What Actually Happened to the Green Claims Directive?
The Green Claims Directive proposal is still ongoing, not binding law. Separate its status from the environmental-claims rules applying from 27 September 2026.
Jump around this page
In 60 seconds
The proposed Green Claims Directive is not EU law as at 3 September 2026. The authoritative EUR-Lex procedure for 2023/0085/COD, COM(2023) 166 is still marked Ongoing. That is the status to use, whatever political commentary, negotiating pauses or headlines may say. Separately, binding EU consumer-law changes on environmental claims already exist under Directive (EU) 2024/825.
- Directive (EU) 2024/825 is adopted. Member States had to transpose it by 27 March 2026 and apply national measures from 27 September 2026.
- Because 2024/825 is a directive, implementation must be checked Member State by Member State.
- Do not hard-code proposed Green Claims pre-approval, verifier, certificate or methodology requirements as current EU law.
- Do not say the Green Claims Directive was withdrawn unless the formal legislative procedure itself changes to that status.
Member States had to transpose that directive by 27 March 2026 and must apply the national measures from 27 September 2026. So a business should not build the proposed Green Claims Directive's detailed substantiation or pre-verification model into production as if it were enacted, but it should prepare for the binding anti-greenwashing rules that now apply through national law.
Legal status
| Question | Current answer |
|---|---|
| Green Claims proposal | COM(2023) 166, procedure 2023/0085/COD |
| Formal EUR-Lex status | PROPOSED - ONGOING |
| Binding as law? | No |
| Binding adjacent instrument | Directive (EU) 2024/825 on empowering consumers for the green transition |
| 2024/825 transposition deadline | 27 March 2026 |
| National measures apply | 27 September 2026 |
| Practical implementation | Must be checked Member State by Member State because 2024/825 is a directive |
Primary procedure: EUR-Lex 2023/0085/COD. Binding adjacent law: Directive (EU) 2024/825.
Why the answer became confusing
Two different files are often collapsed into “the EU Green Claims law”.
The Green Claims Directive proposal is the proposal on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims. It is a legislative procedure. Until the procedure produces adopted law, its proposed mechanisms remain proposals.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 is already adopted. It changes EU consumer-law rules, including rules relevant to environmental claims and sustainability messaging. Its national implementing measures apply from 27 September 2026.
Those are not two names for the same instrument.
If the business question is “what claims can I actually make from 27 September?”, see What Environmental Claims Can You Still Make in the EU from 27 September 2026?. This page covers the narrower status question: what happened to the separate Green Claims proposal?
What businesses should do
| Action | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| DO NOW | Review environmental claims against the binding 2024/825 changes and the national law in each market where the claim will be used. |
| DO NOW | Keep evidence, claim wording, product scope and approval history connected so a claim can be defended or removed quickly. |
| PREPARE | Maintain a reversible evidence architecture that could support tighter substantiation rules later without assuming the proposal's final design. |
| WATCH | Formal steps in procedure 2023/0085/COD and any amended text that progresses through the institutions. |
| DO NOT HARD-CODE | Proposed Green Claims pre-approval, verifier, certificate or methodology requirements as if they are current EU law. |
| DO NOT SAY | “The Green Claims Directive was withdrawn” unless the formal legislative procedure itself is changed to that status. |
Is the Green Claims Directive withdrawn?
Not according to the current EUR-Lex procedure checked for this page.
As at 3 September 2026, EUR-Lex labels procedure 2023/0085/COD Ongoing. The legal-status page is the right source here because it records the formal procedure, not commentary on whether negotiations are politically likely to continue.
That doesn't mean the proposal will necessarily become law in its current form. It means the accurate status today is still proposal / ongoing.
The rule holds beyond this one file: a political statement, Council discussion, Commission intention or press report can be important, but it doesn't silently rewrite the legal status in EUR-Lex.
What is binding instead?
Directive (EU) 2024/825 is the current legal bridge into environmental-claims action. It was adopted, entered into force and set a national transposition timetable. Member States were to adopt transposition measures by 27 March 2026 and apply them from 27 September 2026.
Because it is a directive, the exact national implementation still matters. The EU date is not permission to assume every Member State used identical drafting or enforcement language.
For claim-by-claim business action, use the environmental-claims page and keep the evidence behind each statement in Evidence & Trust.
What this does not mean
It does not mean environmental claims are unregulated until the Green Claims proposal is adopted. They are already governed by consumer law and other sector-specific rules, with the 2024/825 changes moving into national application on 27 September 2026.
It does not mean every proposed Green Claims requirement can be ignored forever. A good data and evidence architecture can be designed so future requirements can be added. Keep it reversible.
It does not mean a draft is a safe source for a current compliance statement. Draft provisions can explain direction of travel. They cannot be presented as obligations.
The evidence consequence
The right preparation is not a giant “Green Claims Directive checklist”. It is a governed claim record:
- exact claim text;
- product(s) and market(s) to which it applies;
- source facts and calculation method;
- evidence owner;
- evidence version and date;
- reviewer/approval state;
- where the claim appears;
- expiry or re-verification trigger.
That model works under current consumer law and remains useful if the proposal later creates additional substantiation steps. You can check which claims your data can support, one product at a time.
What would change this page
Recheck when:
- EUR-Lex changes the formal procedure status for 2023/0085/COD;
- a Council or Parliament step produces a new formal text;
- the proposal is adopted, withdrawn or replaced;
- Directive (EU) 2024/825 national implementation materially changes the current business-action page.
The cross-regulation state is tracked on the EU Product Regulation Action Radar.
Keep exploring
Next question: which environmental claims actually change on 27 September 2026?
Primary sources
-
European Commission
-
EU law
Does this reach your products?
Give ActivateDigital one product and it works out which obligations apply from the product's own character, and says which it cannot decide.