Italy Targets Greenwashing and Social Washing With Landmark New Rules
In Short
The Situation: On March 24, 2026, Italy's Legislative Decree No. 30/2026 entered into force, transposing EU Directive 2024/825 ("Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition") into Italian law. The Decree significantly amends the Italian Consumer Code to address greenwashing and social washing in commercial communications.
The Result: The Decree introduces new legal definitions for environmental claims and sustainability labels, expands the scope of misleading practices to cover environmental and social characteristics, establishes a list of always-prohibited claims, targets planned obsolescence, strengthens pre-contractual disclosure obligations, and empowers the Italian Competition Authority to impose fines of up to €10 million.
Looking Ahead: The new provisions will become applicable on September 27, 2026, giving businesses a six-month transitional period to review and align their environmental and social claims, marketing materials, product labels, and pre-contractual disclosures with the new requirements.
Legislative Decree No. 30 of February 20, 2026 (the "Empowering Decree") entered into force on March 24, 2026, transposing EU Directive 2024/825 into Italian law. The Decree introduces substantial amendments to the Italian Consumer Code (Legislative Decree No. 206/2005) aimed at combating greenwashing and social washing. The new provisions will become applicable on September 27, 2026, granting businesses a six-month transitional period to adapt.
Key changes include:
New Definitions
The Decree introduces new legal definitions into Article 18 of the Consumer Code, including "environmental claim," "generic environmental claim," "sustainability label," "certification system," "durability," and "repairability index." These definitions establish the interpretive framework for assessing compliance of commercial communications with the new rules.
Expanded Scope of Misleading Practices
The concept of "main characteristics" under Article 21 is broadened to include environmental and social characteristics—such as respect for human rights, working conditions, and gender equality—as well as circularity aspects (durability, repairability, recyclability). For the first time, the law equates "social washing" with greenwashing: Misleading information on any of these features now constitutes an unfair commercial practice. Environmental claims relating to future performance must be supported by verifiable commitments set out in a detailed implementation plan with measurable targets and independent third-party verification.
List of Always-Prohibited Practices
Article 23 of the Consumer Code is amended to add four new always-prohibited practices: displaying sustainability labels not based on recognized certification systems; making generic environmental claims (e.g., "eco," "green") without demonstrating recognized excellence of the relevant environmental performance; attributing environmental characteristics to an entire product when they relate only to a specific aspect; and claiming, solely on the basis of emission offsets, that a product has a neutral, reduced, or positive environmental impact (e.g., "carbon neutral," "net zero").
Durability, Repairability, and Planned Obsolescence
The Decree targets planned obsolescence by prohibiting presenting a product as repairable when it does not meet technical repair requirements, failing to inform consumers that a software update will negatively affect product functioning, presenting non-essential software updates as necessary, and inducing early replacement of consumables through misleading messages about durability or compatibility.
Pre-Contractual Information Obligations
The Decree strengthens pre-contractual disclosure requirements. Sellers must now provide consumers with information on:
- The repairability index of the product;
- Availability and cost of spare parts and the minimum guaranteed period for software updates; and
- Recyclability characteristics of the product.
For commercial durability guarantees exceeding two years, a specific EU-harmonized label must be displayed to consumers, as provided by Regulation (EU) 2025/1960.
Enforcement and Sanctions
The Italian Competition Authority, or AGCM, may order the immediate suspension of unfair practices and impose fines from €5,000 to €10 million (up to 4% of annual turnover for EU-wide infringements). Consumers are also expressly granted the right to bring individual damages actions for misleading environmental or social communications.
Five Key Takeaways
- New anti-greenwashing and anti-social washing rules will become applicable on September 27, 2026.
- Generic environmental claims such as "eco," "green," "carbon neutral," or "net zero" are now on a list of always-prohibited practices unless supported by recognized certification systems or demonstrated environmental excellence.
- Social washing is treated on equal footing with greenwashing; misleading claims about human rights, working conditions, or gender equality now constitute unfair commercial practices.
- The Italian Competition Authority may impose fines from €5,000 to €10 million, and consumers have been expressly granted the right to bring individual damages actions for misleading environmental or social claims.
- Businesses operating in the Italian market should use the transitional period through September 27, 2026, to review and update all environmental and social claims, marketing materials, product labels, and pre-contractual disclosures. New rules also apply to businesses established outside Italy if their commercial communications target Italian consumers.
