The European Commission decided on Thursday to launch infringement procedures by sending letters of formal notice to 20 member states, including Cyprus, for failing to notify the full transposition into national law of the directive on empowering consumers for the green transition.
The infringement procedure also concerns Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 aims to improve the reliability and transparency of environmental claims and sustainability labels. The directive encourages businesses to adopt more sustainable practices and prevents premature obsolescence of products and misleading greenwashing practices, while ensuring that consumers are better informed about a product’s durability and reparability, as well as their legal guarantee rights.
Member states were required to transpose the directive into national law by 27 March 2026. At present, the 20 member states concerned have not notified the Commission of the full transposition of the directive into their national legislation.
For this reason, the Commission is launching the procedure by sending letters of formal notice to the member states concerned, which now have two months to respond and notify the Commission of the measures adopted for full transposition. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.