Week 34: 41 days to the green-claims deadline

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 started applying on 12 August 2026, replacing the 1994 packaging directive. The obligation that bites immediately is a hard limit on PFAS in food-contact packaging: above the threshold, takeaway containers, bakery paper and pizza boxes can no longer be placed on the EU market.

Eight Swedish business organisations, including Svensk Handel, Svensk Dagligvaruhandel and Livsmedelsföretagen, published a joint op-ed on 4 August warning that goods and pre-printed packaging worth "hundreds of millions of kronor" may have to be scrapped when the Empowering Consumers Directive becomes Swedish law. They put that date at 1 January 2027, roughly three months after the EU application date of 27 September 2026, and ask for a national sell-through period of at least six months, pointing to Finland, which has proposed exactly that.

On 13 August the Dutch consumer authority ACM published the outcome of an action against Captain Cruise, which had used absolute, unsubstantiated claims ("verantwoord", "duurzaam cruisen", "milieuvriendelijke reis") in both copy and imagery. No fine was issued; the company removed the claims and renamed its "duurzaam cruisen" page.

The instructive part is the framing: ACM used the case to signal that from 27 September general absolute claims such as "bewust", "duurzaam" and "verantwoord" will be unlawful without direct substantiation.

Copenhagen City Court fined swimwear brand Copenhagen Cartel ApS DKK 500,000 on all 17 counts (announced 20 July) for 2021–2023 marketing claiming products were "made from ocean waste" and 78% plastic recovered from the oceans. The garments did contain 78% Econyl, but only a small share could be documented as originating from ocean waste or recovered fishing nets. That followed the DKK 3,000,000 fine against KLM on 9 July, over a radio ad calling SAF use "a big step towards more sustainable travel" on roughly 1% blending.

The Oxford–GlobeScan Global Corporate Affairs Survey 2026 found climate change named a major risk by 40% of senior corporate affairs practitioners, down more than 20 percentage points year on year. Geoeconomic risk took the top slot at 76%, and AI jumped to 44% from 17% in 2025. Nearly 80% say the corporate affairs function itself needs revision. The authors describe this as recalibration rather than rejection. The summary does not disclose sample size or country coverage, so the percentages are directional.

On 23 July the Swedish government announced preparation of a national ban on PFAS in clothing, footwear, impregnation sprays, kitchenware, cosmetics and ski wax from 1 January 2028, ahead of the EU-wide restriction the Commission is expected to propose during 2027, at which point the Swedish rule would be repealed. On 11 August a special investigator was appointed to propose economic instruments for phasing out PFAS, reporting 30 November 2027.

The ESPR ban on destroying unsold apparel, accessories and footwear took effect for large companies on 19 July 2026, with narrow exemptions; medium-sized companies follow in 2030, and a standardised disclosure format for volumes of discarded unsold goods becomes mandatory in February 2027. The Commission cites an estimated 4–9% of unsold textiles destroyed in Europe each year.

In the same fortnight, Amsterdam District Court declared MUD Jeans, the Dutch denim brand built on the "Lease A Jeans" circular model, bankrupt on 5 August.