Tightening anti-greenwashing rules


Green businesses are pleased with new FTC rules that will limit inaccurate claims about environmentally friendly practices.

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The Federal Trade Commission will tighten its guidelines on environmental marketing claims, creating a harsher situation for businesses who falsely represent their practices as green.

Green businesses in Oregon are pleased with the decision, which they expect to limit deceptive advertising.

The FTC’s Green Guides are intended to serve as guidelines for businesses that make claims of environmental benefit in their marketing. The guides were last updated in 1998. The next update is expected to be complete by the end of the year, following a public comment period. Changes will expand the FTC’s reach from recycled, degradable and ozone-safe products to more sophisticated offerings like carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates, green packaging, textiles, building products and buildings themselves.

Though the Green Guides are advisory and not enforceable by law, their revision bolsters the FTC’s ability to take action against greenwashing as unfair or deceptive advertising, both prohibited by the FTC Act.

Read more at Sustainable Business Oregon.

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