According to a ruling by the Schleswig Higher Regional Court on June 30, 2022, the advertising claim “climate neutral” does not constitute deception and does not violate competition law (Ref.: 6 U 46/21).
Climate change has become a concern for many consumers. Accordingly, climate neutrality is an important marketing argument. Various competition associations have already taken legal action against claims of climate neutrality if there are no further explanations of how it is achieved, explains the law firm MTR Rechtsanwälte.
The Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court has now dismissed such a lawsuit by a competition association. In the underlying case, a manufacturer of household and hygiene articles had printed the statement “climate neutral” next to its brand logo on a particular line of trash bags. The suing competition association considered this misleading. Consumers would understand this to mean that the trash bags were produced climate neutrally. In fact, climate neutrality would only be achieved through subsequent compensation. Consumers are not explicitly informed about this, and referring to the manufacturer’s website is not sufficient, argued the competition association.
In the first instance, the Kiel Regional Court followed this reasoning and prohibited advertising the trash bags with the statement “climate neutral”. However, in the appeal process, the Schleswig Higher Regional Court saw it differently and overturned the ruling. The advertising statement “climate neutral” is not misleading and does not violate the Unfair Competition Act (UWG). There is no risk that consumers would mistakenly believe that the company offers exclusively climate-neutral products. This is even more applicable if consumers are presented with several product variants from the company under the same labeling but in different variations, and the “climate-neutral” trash bags are also significantly more expensive than others, according to the court.
The statement “climate neutral” is also not misleading because consumers do not know, without more detailed explanations, how climate neutrality is achieved. Unlike the term eco-friendliness, the statement climate-friendliness contains a clear and verifiable claim. The consumer is promised through the indication “climate neutral” on the trash bags a production with a balanced CO2 balance, without going into detail on how this is achieved. However, it is unlikely that consumers would therefore assume that trash bags are produced completely without CO2 emissions, according to the court.
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