Comment Period Closes on April 24, 2023
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in the process of updating its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (Green Guides) to assist marketers in ensuring that their claims about the environmental attributes of their products are truthful and nondeceptive. The Green Guides provide general principles that apply to all environmental marketing claims, as well as guidance on how consumers are likely to interpret particular environmental claims, how marketers can substantiate these claims, and how marketers can qualify their claims to avoid deceiving consumers. The Green Guides were first issued in 1992 and were subsequently revised in 1996, 1998, and most recently in 2012, so a new update is long overdue.
The FTC is currently soliciting public comments about the efficiency, costs, benefits, and regulatory impact of its Green Guides to determine whether to retain, modify, or rescind them. See Request for Comment. This review is particularly important given that increased attention to environmental concerns, such as climate change and issues relating to the COVID-19 public health crisis, have likely fostered more environmentally friendly “green” claims regarding a variety of services and products across industries, as well as the related packaging and manufacturing processes. Given these various changes in the market, some of the current environmental benefit claims are not even addressed in the Green Guides, or the guidance is outdated or unclear. Accordingly, the FTC seeks comments on several general issues, delineates several specific questions, and also invites comments on any issues that relate to the Green Guides even if not expressly identified. Along with comments, the FTC has requested consumer survey evidence and perception data with respect to environmental claims, including those not currently covered by the Green Guides.
Next Steps
All interested companies have the opportunity to submit written data, views, and arguments concerning the Green Guides prior to the closing of the comment period on April 24, 2023. Comments can be submitted through the Regulations.gov online comment portal available at the link above.
We encourage businesses interested in and potentially affected by the FTC’s proposal to submit comments. Wilson Sonsini routinely advises companies on marketing claims and compliance in this area. For more information or advice concerning this comment period or your Green Guides compliance efforts, please contact Peter Mostow, Maneesha Mithal, Aaron Hendelman, Alyssa Worsham, or Chelsea Carbone.
