HOME | TABLE OF CONTENTS

AMERICAS: CANADA

COMPETITION BUREAU WEIGHS IN ON ENVIRONMENTAL CLAIMS
Author: Catherine Bate, Heenan Blaikie

With the world's focus turning to environmental issues, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) is also taking up the cause. As more and more companies seek to develop and promote products that are ecologically preferable, the Bureau – in conjunction with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) – has issued a draft guidance document about how to label and advertise all things "green."

The Bureau first issued guidelines back in 1991, the Principles and Guidelines for Environmental Labelling and Advertising (PGELA), in response to concerns about misleading advertising about environmental claims. PGELA dealt with issues such as the proper use of terms like "recyclable" and "recycled," and encouraged advertisers to avoid vague or unsubstantiated environmental claims.

The most recent document, Environmental claims: A guide for industry and advertisers (Draft Environmental Claims Guide), has two stated objectives:
(1) To provide users of an ISO standard relating to environmental labelling (ISO Standard 14021) with a practical guide to its application
(2) To provide guidance concerning the application of legislation enforced by the Bureau (including the Competition Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and the Textile Labelling Act) to environmental claims.

What it covers
In a nutshell, the Draft Environmental Claims Guide repeats excerpts of ISO Standard 14021. It also provides commentary on and examples of statements or practices that comply with the Standard and applicable legislation (in the form of discouraged and preferred claims). When finalized, we anticipate that the Draft Environmental Claims Guide will cover everything from when and how to label a product with terms such as “recyclable,” “compostable” or “degradable” when explanatory statements might be required to information on how to qualify, evaluate and verify self-declared claims.

What it means?
The Bureau is now reviewing and considering the comments submitted by various parties on the draft guidelines. There are no current plans to circulate a revised draft. Instead, the final guidelines will be released sometime in early 2008.

The final guidelines will look very different than the information bulletins currently issued from the Bureau. Since the new guidelines will be based on the structure of the ISO Standard, they may take some getting used to. The content may also take some getting used to. For example, concerns were raised about language in the draft concerning when and how to declare that a package is recyclable or compostable. To comply with the new guidelines (at least as worded in the draft), claims may become long and significantly qualified, including references to “where facilities exist.” The draft guidelines currently prohibit claims saying “free of” where the product never contained the material in the first place. So, even if it would serve to set one’s product apart, the claim being “a CFC-free pump,” or a “phosphate-free soap” would only be allowed if prior incarnations were less “green.”

Now we wait to see what the final incarnation of the guidelines will bring. Will they be as friendly to manufacturers and marketers as they are to the environment?