17 Amendments of Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES related to 2022/0092(COD)
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) In order to tackle unfair commercial practices which prevent consumers from making sustainable consumption choices, such as practices associated with the early obsolescence of goods, misleading environmental or social claims (“greenwashing” or “social washing”), non-transparent and non- credible sustainability labels or sustainability information tools, specific rules should be introduced in Union consumer law. This would enable nationIntroducing provisions in this regard in the Union consumer law will enable national, regional and local competent bodies to address those practices effectively. BIn addition, by ensuring that environmental or social claims are fair, consumers will be able to choose products that are genuinely better for the environment and for the protection of human and labour rights than competing products. This will encourage competition towards more environmentally and socially sustainable products, thus reducing negative impact on the environment and on indigenous or vulnerable sectors of the population.
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4 a (new)
Recital 4 a (new)
(4a) Social claims should take into account compliance with future due diligence requirements set by the Union and be supported by independent monitoring systems. Such claims should cover the entire supply chain and manufacturing process of the products.
Amendment 52 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC should also be amended to prohibit making generic environmental or social claims without recognised excellent environmental or social performance which is relevant to the claim. Examples of such generic environmental or social claims are ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘eco-friendly’, ‘eco’, ‘eco-friendly packaging’, ‘green’, ‘nature’s friend’, ‘ecological’, ‘environmentally correct’, ‘climate friendly’, ‘gentle on the environment’, ‘carbon friendly’, ‘carbon neutral’, ‘carbon positive’, ‘climate neutral’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘bio based’, ‘deforestation-free’, ‘green-dot’, ‘sustainable’, ‘socially just’, ‘socially aware’, ‘poverty-free’, ‘fair trade product’ or similar statements, as well as broader statements such as ‘conscious’, ‘concerned’ or ‘responsible’ that suggest or create the impression of excellent environmental or social performance. Such generic environmental claims should be prohibited whenever there is no excellent environmental or social performance demonstrated or whenever the specification of the claim is not provided in clear and prominent terms on the same medium, such as the same advertising spot, product’s packaging or online selling interface. For example, the claim ‘biodegradable’, referring to a product, would be a generic claim, whilst claiming that ‘the packaging’ is biodegradable through home composting in one month’ would be a specific claim, which does not fall under this prohibition. The same would apply with social claims: the claim ‘socially just’ would be generic whilst claiming that ‘the manufacturing and trading process of the marketed good complies with Corporate Social Responsibility or Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Governance regulations’, in the framework of due diligence principles, would be a specific claim.
Amendment 59 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 10 a (new)
Recital 10 a (new)
(10a) Excellent social performance can be demonstrated by compliance with applicable Union law on the subject, especially with the regulations to be set on due diligence as well as on sustainable corporate governance.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) Another misleading commercial practice which should be prohibited in all circumstances and thus added to the list in Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is making an environmental or social claim about the entire product when it actually concerns only a certain aspect of the product. This would be the case for example when a product is marketed as ‘made with recycled material’ giving the impression that the entire product is made of recycled material, when in fact it is only the packaging that is made of recycled material. or when marketed as ‘fair trade product’ regardless of its social impact throughout the entire manufacturing process, labour conditions and the supply chain.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) The Circular Economy Action Plan24 provides for the need to set the rules on environmental claims using Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint methods. Additional requirements on environmental claims will have to be set in specific Union legislation. Those new requirements will contribute to the Green Deal25 objective of enabling buyers to make more sustainable and fair decisions and reduce the risk of greenwashing through reliable, comparable and verifiable information. __________________ 24 COM(2020)98 final, 11 March 2020. 25 COM(2019)640 final, 11 December 2019.
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) In order to improve the welfare of consumers, the amendments to Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC should also addressGiven that they are perceived as particularly unfair and affect the welfare of consumers, several practices associated with early obsolescence, including planned obsolescence practices, understood as a commercial policy involving deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life so that it prematurely becomes obsolete or non-functional after a certain period of time, should also be addressed in amendments to Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC. Purchasing products that are expected to last longer than they actually do causes consumer detriment. Furthermore, early obsolescence practices have an overall negative impact on the environment in the form of increased material waste. Therefore, addressing those practices areis also likely to reduce the amount of waste and the unnecessary consumption of resources, contributing thereby to a more sustainable and fair consumption and production patterns.
Amendment 69 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) It should be prohibited to omit to inform the consumer thatof the degree to which a software update, including a security update, will negatively impact the use of goods with digital elements or certain features of those goods, even if the update improves the functioning of other features. For example, when inviting consumers to update the operating system on their smartphone, the trader will have to inform the consumer ifof the degree to which such an update will negatively impact the functioning of any of the features of the smartphone.
Amendment 116 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 34
Recital 34
(34) Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU should continue to work as a ‘safety net’ ensuring that a high level of consumer protection and empowerment can be maintained in all sectors, by complementing sector and product-specific Union law that prevail in case of conflict.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point p
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point p
(p) ‘explicit environmental or social claim’ means an environmental or social claim that is in textual form or contained in a sustainability label;
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point q
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point q
(q) ‘generic environmental or social claim’ means any explicit environmental or social claim, not contained in a sustainability label, where the specification of the claim is not provided in clear and prominent terms on the same medium;
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point r
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point r
(r) ‘sustainability label’ means any voluntary trust mark, quality mark or equivalent, either public or private, that aims to set apart and promote a product, a process or a business with reference to its environmental orand social aspects or both. This does not cover any mandatory label required in accordance with Union or national law;
Amendment 165 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point y a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point y a (new)
(ya) ‘social impact’ means an effect on people and communities that happens as a result of an action or inaction related with the manufacturing, labour conditions and trading process of any marketed good;
Amendment 170 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point y b (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point y b (new)
(yb) ‘social claim’ means any message or representation, which is not mandatory under Union law or national law, including text, pictorial, graphic or symbolic representation, in any form, including labels, brand names, company names or product names, in the context of a commercial communication, which states or indicates that a product, company or trader has a positive or non- negative social impact or is less damaging to indigenous or vulnerable sectors of population than other products or traders, respectively, or has improved their impact over time;
Amendment 171 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point y c (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point y c (new)
(yc) ‘recognised social performance’ means social performance compliant with top social performance in accordance with corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability reporting, due diligence regulation and other applicable Union law on the subject such as sustainable corporate governance;
Amendment 185 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point b
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point b
Directive 2005/29/EC
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point e a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point e a (new)
(ea) making a social claim without clear, objective and verifiable commitments and targets and without an independent monitoring system;
Amendment 256 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 2
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 2
Directive 2005/29/EC
Annex I – point 4 b
Annex I – point 4 b
4b. Making an environmental or social claim about the entire product that is not covered by a sustainability label when it actually concerns only a certain aspect of the product.;