We automatically scan your website content for environmental claims that may be problematic under the Empowering Consumers Directive. Crawling-based, AI-powered, continuously monitored.
Industry, company size, and registered office are irrelevant — the requirements still apply.
SME relief is being discussed in the still-pending Green Claims Directive (GCD) — currently on hold and not to be confused with EmpCo.
EmpCo doesn't just apply to your next campaign — it applies to everything already on your website. The scale of content companies now need to review and keep compliant is significant. Here's what that means in practice.
Product pages, category descriptions, blog posts, CSR pages: if it's publicly accessible and contains an environmental claim, it falls under EmpCo. There is no grandfathering clause. The full scope of your existing content needs to be reviewed before the September 2026 deadline.
New product launches, updated copy, seasonal campaigns, and A/B tests continuously add new content. Without ongoing monitoring, anything published after an audit goes live unchecked — making continuous scanning a compliance necessity, not a nice-to-have.
For cross-border violations, the EU framework allows fines of up to 4% of annual turnover per market. Consumer protection authorities and competitors can bring actions from 27 September 2026.
We combine searchVIU's proven crawling technology with a multi-stage AI pipeline. From thousands of pages, we extract the environmental claims relevant under EmpCo, classify them, and assess their substantiation.
Our enterprise crawlers capture your entire public website — product detail pages, categories, marketing pages, blog, about, CSR. Including hreflang variants in multiple languages.
Got 1,000 pages? 50,000? 200,000+? No limit — every page gets checked, not just a sample.
We use a multi-stage pipeline combining keyword matching, contextual filtering, and AI classification. It separates genuine marketing claims from neutral language, UI text, or coincidental word matches.
For every potential claim, our system checks whether concrete, verifiable evidence is present on the same page — or whether the claim may pose a risk under EmpCo.
Daily or weekly re-scans detect new risks arising from product launches, campaigns, or updated copy — with alerts sent to the responsible teams.
"Our sustainable shampoo is eco-friendly and good for the planet."
"Carbon neutral shipping — we offset all emissions."
"Packaging made from 70% post-consumer recycled content (PET), measured according to EN 15343. Closure and label excluded."
We scan your homepage, top categories, and selected marketing landing pages for claims that may be problematic under EU rules. Within 5 business days, you'll receive an initial risk report with prioritised findings — free of charge, with no commitment or obligation.
Submit in 30 seconds. Receive your report within 5 business days.
The Empowering Consumers Directive (EU) 2024/825 — EmpCo for short — strengthens consumer rights against greenwashing. It prohibits generic environmental claims without substantiation, regulates sustainability labels, and requires that evidence appear on the same medium as the claim. It will be enforceable across all 27 EU member states from 27 September 2026.
Official sources: Directive text on EUR-Lex · European Commission Q&A
The Green Claims Directive is a separate, complementary EU directive that originally aimed to introduce stricter pre-certification requirements for environmental claims. The European Commission suspended the legislative process in June 2025 — without formally withdrawing it, but without a new timeline. It remains unclear whether and in what form it will be implemented.
Importantly: this has no bearing on EmpCo. The Empowering Consumers Directive is already enacted, being transposed into national law, and applies from 27 September 2026 — regardless of the fate of the Green Claims Directive.
Common confusion: thresholds such as "fewer than 10 employees" or "up to €2 million turnover" come from the draft Green Claims Directive — they do not apply to EmpCo.
Yes. EmpCo contains no size exemption — the core prohibitions (generic environmental claims, offset-based claims, non-transparent labels) apply regardless of headcount or turnover, as long as you sell to end consumers in the EU.
There is also no transition period. The European Commission's Q&A explicitly states that the directive makes no exception for marketing communications or packaging produced before 27 September 2026. A so-called "grandfather clause" was rejected by the EU, despite industry lobbying.
Consumer protection authorities and competitors do not distinguish by company size when taking enforcement action.
Yes. According to the European Commission's Q&A, brand and product names containing terms like "green", "eco", "climate neutral", or similar environmental references fall under the directive — even if they are trademarked. They must meet the same requirements as generic environmental claims or sustainability labels.
In cases of non-compliance, registration of such trademarks may even be refused on grounds of unfair commercial practices.
We crawl the publicly accessible content on your domain and identify claims that may be problematic under EmpCo: generic environmental terms, carbon neutrality assertions, unverified labels, and vague future commitments. We then check whether substantiation or specifics are present on the same page — and prioritise risks by severity.
EmpCo covers additional areas beyond text-based environmental claims that our tool does not currently assess:
— Visual greenwashing signals (images, colour coding, iconography). Visual elements such as green leaves, water droplets, or nature imagery can constitute implicit environmental claims in combination with text.
— Premature obsolescence and software update practices for products
— Pre-contractual disclosure obligations such as durability guarantees or repairability scores
— Social washing (claims about working conditions, human rights, animal welfare) — currently out of scope for our tool.
— Final validity of sustainability labels: we flag labels for review against recognised certification schemes but do not issue our own conformity assessment.
For a comprehensive legal assessment, we recommend working with a specialist law firm. We are happy to provide referrals on request.
No. We provide a technical screening tool for prioritisation purposes — not legal advice. High-risk findings should be assessed by a specialist law firm. We can connect you with relevant contacts on request.
The Quick Check is a free sample scan of up to 25 key pages on your domain — giving you a first impression of whether and how significantly you are affected. The full product scans your entire website, runs continuously, alerts you to new risks, and delivers detailed reports for legal and compliance teams.
Pricing depends on website size, languages, and scan frequency. Based on your Quick Check results, we will provide a tailored quote. Larger enterprise clients typically start in the low five-figure range annually — significantly less than a single traditional legal audit.
Currently, the tool offers the highest accuracy for English and German. French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish are in preparation — relevant if you sell across multiple EU markets.
searchVIU GmbH — we have specialised in enterprise SEO crawling and continuous website monitoring for years. Our platform analyses millions of pages daily for leading brands in retail, consumer goods, and industry. The EmpCo module uses this exact infrastructure, extended with a dedicated AI pipeline.
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