EU rules against misleading environmental claims are moving into their enforcement phase. Under Directive (EU) 2024/825, Member States are to apply the new consumer-protection rules from 27 September 2026, including tighter restrictions on generic environmental claims that cannot be properly substantiated and on sustainability labels not based on an approved certification scheme. In parallel, the EUIPO’s 2026 Trade Mark Guidelines have applied since 1 July. For EU trade mark applications containing terms such as “eco”, “green” or “climate neutral”, or comparable visual elements, examination still turns on the goods and services, the overall meaning of the sign and how the relevant public will understand it. A claim that directly describes characteristics may face descriptiveness or lack-of-distinctiveness objections, while a sign capable of creating a false impression about the nature, quality or characteristics of the goods or services may also raise deceptiveness concerns.
This does not amount to a blanket refusal of every “green” mark, but it does make environmental language a weaker foundation for broad exclusivity where the claim is descriptive, vague or disconnected from the actual offer. Applicants should align specifications, substantiation and intended market use before filing. The procedural route also matters: EU trade mark oppositions are principally based on relative grounds, whereas environmental-claim issues framed as absolute grounds are more likely to surface during examination, through third-party observations or in post-registration invalidity proceedings. As the anti-greenwashing rules begin to bite in consumer markets, trade mark strategy and advertising compliance will increasingly need to be assessed together rather than in isolation.
