Legal Guidance on Environmental Claims | Event Recaps | All MKC Content | ANA

Legal Guidance on Environmental Claims

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ANA Law 1-Day Conference attendees: Scroll down for CLE materials

During a session at a 1-Day Law Conference, an ANA audience received guidance on the use of environmental claims from Michael Justus, partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, and Mark Danis, VP, deputy general counsel at The Clorox Company.

Key Takeaways

  • Some contexts necessarily limit a sustainability claim to environmental implications only, but some may not, opening the claim to falsification based, say, on unfair labor practices, which may be considered unsustainable. Thus, you should provide explanatory materials at point of sale and expect plaintiffs to assert the broadest possible definition of "sustainable."
  • Your qualification of environmental claims must be clear and conspicuous.
  • The use of certification seals is not necessarily self-explanatory. If a certification is used, ensure that the certifier is legitimate.
  • The FTC's Green Guides prohibit unqualified general environmental benefit claims (e.g., "eco-friendly" and "green"), as virtually impossible to substantiate.
  • The Green Guides also advise that qualified claims should be substantiated with scientific evidence.
  • The Green Guides maintain that marketers may use unqualified recyclability claims only if recycling facilities for the product in question are available to a substantial majority (at least 60 percent) of communities where the item is sold.

CLE Materials

Source

"ESG Risks and Opportunities in 2023." Michael Justus, partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; Mark Danis, VP, deputy general counsel at The Clorox Company. ANA Law 1-Day Conference, 7/19/23.

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