SKW Schwarz advises GS1 Germany on questions regarding the implementation and impact of the EU Empowering Consumers Directive (EmpCo)

SKW Schwarz has supported GS1 Germany as its exclusive legal advisor in the development of the guidance document “EmpCo in Practice: Application Recommendation for Transparent and Legally Compliant Product Communication.” Since autumn 2025, SKW Schwarz has been supporting the project team at GS1 Germany and the participating companies from retail, industry, and associations in the legal interpretation and practical implementation of EU Directive (EU) 2024/825 (“Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition” / “EmpCo”) as well as the revised German Unfair Competition Act (UWG).

The now-published guidance provides companies with a practical framework for transparent, consistent, and as legally secure as possible sustainability claims toward consumers. The focus is particularly on environmental claims, statements related to the circular economy (e.g., recyclability, recycled content, reuse, refillability), as well as requirements for sustainability labels, future environmental performance, and the handling of offsetting measures.

“EmpCo fundamentally changes the rules of product and sustainability communication. Anyone wishing to advertise with environmental and sustainability claims after 27 September 2026 needs robust concepts, clean data, and a clear legal line,” says Dr. Daniel Kendziur, partner at SKW Schwarz. “Together with GS1 Germany and the participating companies, we were able to develop a best-practice framework that provides orientation without replacing the necessary case-by-case assessment.”

The role of SKW Schwarz included in particular:

• legal analysis and interpretation of EmpCo and its transposition into the UWG,
• co-development of the guiding principles for permissible and impermissible environmental and sustainability claims,
• legal support for positive examples on key claims such as “recyclable,” “recycled content,” “regional,” “natural/nature-based,” “bio-based plastic,” “reusable,” “refillable,” “carbon footprint,” or “fair trade,”
• classification of requirements for sustainability labels and certification systems, as well as
• the design of best-practice approaches for communicating future environmental performance and handling investments in climate protection projects.

“With the application recommendation, we combine regulatory requirements with GS1 standards – from unique product identification to digital information channels via GS1 Digital Link,” explains Joanna Behrend, Manager Sustainability at GS1 Germany. “Our goal is to provide a common reference framework: companies receive practical guidance for EmpCo-compliant sustainability claims, and consumers benefit from clearer, more comparable information. In this way, trust can be strengthened, greenwashing risks reduced, and the foundation created for scalable, data-driven sustainability communication along the entire value chain.”

The application recommendation “EmpCo in Practice” is available to companies as a reference document for product-related sustainability communication. It is explicitly not intended as a final legal opinion, but as a joint industry position that will be further developed in light of future case law.

The application recommendation can be found here.