POLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Szymon Gogulski, Marek Oleksyn and Damian Ludwiniak, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak Jasna 26 Street 00-054 Warsaw Poland
Tel: +48 22 608 70 00 Fax: +48 22 608 70 01 Email: office@skslegal.pl Web: www.skslegal.pl
What is greenwashing? Greenwashing is a term with multiple meanings that has been in use for many decades. Essentially, it emphasises the practice of misleadingly informing consumers about the activities undertaken by a trader who is allegedly acting in harmony with and out of respect for the environment, adopting a sustainable and resource-efficient approach. Current legal framework in the EU and Poland Although the tendency to use false or misleading mes - sages related to ecological and environmental protec - tion in business has significantly intensified in recent years, EU law has long been armed with legal instru - ments enabling such unfair practices to be effectively counteracted. The EU legal framework also addresses false or mis - leading claims, including sectoral EU rules that deal with specific types of goods or services, as well as general legislation with horizontal coverage, which applies to the extent not covered by specific laws. Greenwashing practices vis-à-vis specific consumer protection laws in the EU With respect to B2C relations in the EU, the key legal document is the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC of 11 May 2005. This Directive sets out traders’ general obligations to provide true, accurate, unambiguous product claims and other information, and also to have and provide (if required) sufficient evidence confirming the accuracy of such claims. In particular, under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, traders are not allowed to use misleading commercial practices – ie, those which contain false information and are untruthful, or in any way deceive
Introduction Fair advertising and marketing have recently become the subject of increasingly thorough analysis and focus in Poland, not only by market competitors, but also by consumer organisations and the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protec - tion (OCCP) – evidenced by the increasing number of proceedings initiated in this respect before the com - mon courts and the OCCP, as well as by the rules and guidelines recently published by the OCCP. Within the scope of fair advertising and promotion, two phenomena that are having an increasingly impor - tant impact on business in various market sectors in Poland are discussed below: • greenwashing; and • marketing and advertising activity by influencers. Greenwashing Misleading and false product information – old problem with a new “green” face Informing people about products and advertising those products have always triggered a lively discus - sion and provided many interesting cases related to the accuracy and truthfulness of the information pro - vided, as well as the limits of “permitted exaggeration” in advertising. This has become increasingly interest - ing, particularly from the perspective of fair-market practices and fair competition. The issue is becoming more important and urgent in light of the ever-growing need to meet stringent envi - ronmental and ecological requirements in businesses’ and clients’ quests for a sustainable and resource- efficient strategy.
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