After years of pondering, FTC releases marketers' Green Guides

It’s been a long time coming, but after nearly five years of deliberations, the Federal Trade Commission today issuedrevised “Green Guides”旨在帮助营销人员确保他们对其产品的环境属性作出的索赔是真实的和非欺骗性的。

The document released today is an update to guidelines first introduced in 1992 and updated in 1996 and 1998. The draft of this update wasreleased almost two years ago to the day. Now, 14 years later, the FTC has refreshed them for the 21st century, including updates to the existing guides as well as new sections on the use of carbon offsets, environmental certifications and seals, and renewable energy and renewable materials claims.

“The FTC’s changes to the Green Guides will level the playing field for honest business people and it is one reason why we had such broad support,” says FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.

It’s a low bar, but at least it’s done.

在revising the Green Guides, the FTCmodified and clarified sections of the previous Guides and provided new guidanceon environmental claims that were not common when the Guides were last reviewed.

我问莱博维茨是否典型为FTC典型，以将其拟议的准则达到最终形式。“在草案之间有两年，总是在长边有点，但我们想确保我们得到它，”他说。“这是一个非常复杂的地区，具有许多不同的索赔，许多不同的背景。这比平常更长的过程。在一天结束时，大多数利益攸关方 - 营销人员和环保主义者 - 将非常满意完成品。”

Among other modifications, the guides caution marketers not to make broad, unqualified claims that a product is “environmentally friendly” or “eco-friendly” — or "green" — because the FTC’s consumer perception study confirms that such claims are likely to suggest that the product has specific and far-reaching environmental benefits. The commission notes, “Very few products, if any, have all the attributes consumers seem to perceive from such claims, making these claims nearly impossible to substantiate.”

The guides also:

• advise marketers not to make an unqualified degradable claim for a solid waste product unless they can prove that the entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature within one year after customary disposal;
• caution that items destined for landfills, incinerators, or recycling facilities will not degrade within a year, so marketers should not make unqualified degradable claims for these items; and
• clarify guidance on compostable, ozone, recyclable, recycled content, and source reduction claims.

The guides — which take effect immediately — contain new sections on: certifications and seals of approval; carbon offsets, “free-of” claims, non-toxic claims, made with renewable energy claims, and made with renewable materials claims.

例如，关于批准的关于认证和密封的新部分强调认证和密封可能被视为所涵盖的认可FTC’s Endorsement Guides, and includes examples that illustrate how marketers could disclose a “material connection” that might affect the weight or credibility of an endorsement. In addition, the guides caution marketers not to use environmental certifications or seals that don’t clearly convey the basis for the certification, because such seals or certifications are likely to convey general environmental benefits.

Finally, either because the FTC lacks a sufficient basis to provide meaningful guidance or wants to avoid proposing guidance that duplicates or contradicts rules or guidance of other agencies, the Green Guides do not address use of the terms “sustainable,” “natural,” and “organic.” Or "green." (Organic claims made for textiles and other products derived from agricultural products are covered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program.)

今天发布的指南考虑到近340个独特的评论and more than 5,000 total comments received since the FTC released the proposed revised guides two years ago. They also include information gathered from three public workshops and a study of how consumers perceive and understand environmental claims.

The Green Guides are not agency rules or regulations. Instead, they describe the types of environmental claims the FTC may or may not find deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Under Section 5, the agency can take enforcement action against deceptive claims, which ultimately can lead to Commission orders prohibiting deceptive advertising and marketing and fines if those orders are later violated.

The FTC today also released several business and consumer education resources designed to help users understand the Guides. These include:“Environmental Claims – Summary of Green Guides,”a four-page summary of the changes in the Guides;“绿色指南”，一个视频解释了更改的亮点; a newpage on the FTC Business Center, with links to legal documents, the Guides and other “green” content; aBusiness Center blog post; andrelated consumer information.

如果这还不够，那么有一个300页依据和目的声明explaining what this is all about.