In March 2020, the European Commission proposed a Directive, “empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and better information,” which amends the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive. The proposal aims to provide better information on the durability and repairability of certain products to consumers before purchase and to improve the protection of consumers against unfair commercial practices relating to misleading environmental claims (“greenwashing”) and early product obsolescence.  As reported by Wiggin previously, the Directive contains several proposed changes to existing EU consumer law which do not solely apply to physical goods, such as information requirements, and unfair commercial practices relating to software updates made to goods with digital elements, digital content and digital services.

On 17 January 2024, the European Parliament formally adopted the provisional agreement on the text it reached with the Council of the EU in September 2023. On 20 February 2024, the Council formally adopted that text, the last stage of decision-making proccess required to pass the Directive into law. Once signed by the Presidents of the Parliament and Council, the Directive will be published in the Official Journal and will enter into force 20 days after that. Member States will have to apply the law from late 2026 (30 months from date of entry into force).

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