Car-makers welcome withdrawal of EU Green Claims Directive
German car manufacturers’ association VDA has called on the European Commission to withdraw its Green Claims Directive.
Under discussion since 2022, the Green Claims Directive aims to tackle greenwashing, preventing companies from presenting their products as more environmentally responsible than they are.
The European Parliament reached agreement on the proposal at the start of 2024 and the process for bringing the directive into European law began. However, at the end of June this year, one of the largest political groupings in the parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP), formally requested its withdrawal.
In its request, the EPP said the proposed legislation on environmental claims would add too much complexity for companies, especially small and medium businesses, to manage. It said this went against another important European Commission principle, its so-called “simplification agenda”.
Amid a lack of clarity over exactly what will happen next, VDA issued a statement to say the Green Claims Directive represented “the opposite of the simplification agenda”.
VDA president, Hildegard Müller, said the directive would place a burden on small businesses in particular, without what she called “any discernible practical benefit for consumers' purchasing decisions”.
She added: “Europe and Germany need less, not more, regulation.” And she insisted that the existing legal framework will be able to stop companies from issuing “misleading advertising”.
