Sustainability claims are no longer just a brand positioning tool, they are becoming a regulatory risk area.
Across both the European Union and the United Kingdom, enforcement around environmental marketing claims is intensifying. For fashion and retail businesses operating complex global supply chains, the shift is significant:
The question is no longer “Can we say this?”
It is now “Can we defend this?”
Below, we clarify the current legal landscape accross the EU and UK, look at the timelines, and uncover what practical readiness should look like for retailers.
Read on to discover:
The EU Position: Anti-Greenwashing rules are coming into force
The UK Position: Enforcement is already active
Where retail risk typically sits
The broader regulatory intersection
Retailers operating across both markets must treat green claims as a cross-border compliance issue.
Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition - This directive amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and introduces specific rules targeting greenwashing.
The Directive prohibits:
Member States must transpose the Directive by 31 March 2026, with application expected from September 2026. This is not new law, it is strengthened enforcement of consumer protection principles, now specifically focused on greenwashing.
For retailers selling into EU markets, this creates a clear compliance deadline.
There has been confusion around the separate Green Claims Directive proposal. Originally Proposed in March 2023, it would have introduced:
However, negotiations stalled in 2025 and it has not been adopted into law. For retailers, the practical position is simple: Prepare for enforcement under existing consumer protection reforms, not speculative future requirements.
Key point: As ESPR and Digital Product Passports introduce structured product-level environmental data, the connection between product information and marketing claims will become even more direct.
In the UK, environmental claims are governed by: Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Trading Standards.
The CMA’s Green Claims Code sets out practical guidance.
Claims must be:
There is no future implementation date in the UK. Enforcement is happening now.
For most fashion brands and retailers, exposure does not sit in policy documents.
It sits in:
Consider a simple example: A product marketed as “sustainably sourced cotton” must be supported by:
If any link in that chain is weak, the claim becomes vulnerable. This is where greenwashing enforcement intersects directly with supply chain governance.
Green claims risk is now structurally embedded across the regulatory landscape, however it does not reside in isloation, it intersects with:
In short: marketing, sourcing, compliance and reporting are no longer separate conversations.
Retailers should be moving towards structured defensibility. In practive, this means:
Through Segura, most clients are already:
The question is not whether data exists. It is whether that data is:
Segura supports retailers in operationalising this “evidence layer” through:
As ESPR and Digital Product Passports formalise product-level data, the connection between product information and marketing claims will only become more direct.
Retailers who treat supplier data governance as compliance infrastructure, not just ESG reporting, will be significantly better positioned with structured, accessible evidence.
Green claims risk is no longer limited to marketing teams, it is a governance issue touching:
During 2026, regulators will likely move on from asking whether a claim reflects good intention, they will ask whether it is supported by structured evidence.
2026 will not introduce greenwashing enforcement, it will formalise it.
Retailers who invest now in supplier data governance, certification oversight and claim-to-evidence alignment will reduce regulatory exposure and strengthen credibility in an increasingly scrutinised market.
If you would like to assess your current readiness, the Segura team can support a focused compliance review aligned to your existing supplier workflows. Get in touch with us today: info@segura.co.uk.