Canada's Competition Bureau has issued new guidelines that will push companies touting their products as being eco-friendly to back up their claims, and prohibit the use of vague claims suggesting the product may help improve the environment."Businesses should not make environmental claims unless they can back them up. In the end, this will benefit legitimate businesses and consumers by bringing greater accuracy in advertising to the marketplace," competition commissioner Sheridan Scott said in a release.
The bureau said companies will be given one year to reassess and change their product packaging to conform with the standards. Failure to meet the government requirements on labelling products could result in criminal or civil charges, as well as product seizure.
Last November, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing conducted a survey of 1,018 products and found that all but one made exaggerated environmental claims. Read the full report - Six Sins of Greenwashing.
Source: CBC
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