The Sustainability of Consumer and Market Law: Green Claims, Greenwashing and the Right to Repair

Consumer and Market Law are at a turning point.1 Improving the legislative framework for supporting more sustainable production, consumption and trade is needed for contributing to reach the Sustainable Development Goals2 to encourage companies, especially large companies with a cross-border dimension, to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle and to adopt sustainable practices in their supply chain. Further action in this area shall have a positive impact on global value chains involving production processes in third countries. This already led to relevant innovations at Member States’ level, e. g. in France3 and Germany4. At the same time, the EU aims to incentivize third country companies to contribute to the green transition, in particular the businesses trading within the EU internal market. Additionally, sustainable development chapters of the EU bilateral and region-to-region trade agreements can create opportunities for cooperation in line with the overall EU objectives to increase the sustainability dimension of its trade policy. This shall constitute a step forward to strengthening the so-called “Brussels effect”, setting a higher threshold for all market players dealing with the EU Market.