EGMF comments on the ‘Empowering the consumer for the green transition’ initiative

On 23 May, EGMF issued a position paper on the ‘Empowering the consumer for the green transition’ initiative’s legislative proposal, adopted by the European Commission on 30 March 2022. It amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC and the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU.

The position paper provides additional feedback to the European Commission, which will be combined with the input they receive from other stakeholders, summarised, and presented to the European Parliament and Council with the aim of feeding into the legislative debate.

They key points that we raise include:

• The issue should be tackled through a unified approach at the European level: all measures must be based on EU standards and law, rather than individual and fragmented Member States’ initiatives and interpretations, with the French Repairability Index being a prime example of such.
• We also call for full harmonisation of the use of standards and EU legislation application, and caution against multiplying and overlapping with other measures, such as the Commission’s proposed revised Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the upcoming legislative proposal on Substantiating Green Claims using the PEF/OEF methods, and any other labelling requirements.
• Lastly, we call for the educational measures, like environmental literacy and awareness-raising campaigns, to complement labels in terms of influencing consumer behaviour.

For more details and examples, read our position paper HERE.