One EmpCo approach for groups with many brands

The guide EmpCo Directive explains the terms, deadlines and the German transposition. This guide is about the situation in companies with a group website, brand sites, a newsroom and portals for retailers.

What is included in a corporate group

The UCPD applies to commercial practices aimed at consumers before, during and after a purchase. According to the Commission, this covers any action and communication directly connected with the promotion or sale of products. In corporate groups this affects many places.

Group website and umbrella brand

Statements about the entire company often sit at the top of the homepage. The directive prohibits environmental claims about the entire business when they concern only a certain activity (point 4b). Recital 11 gives the example of a trader that gives the impression of using only renewable energy while many of its facilities still run on fossil fuels. Without a specification, generic claims such as “climate-friendly” require proof of recognized excellent environmental performance (point 4a).

For targets such as “climate neutral by 2030”, Art. 6(2)(d) UCPD applies, in the UWG Section 5(3) no. 4. What is required are clear, publicly available commitments in a detailed implementation plan with measurable interim targets and allocated resources. An independent external expert regularly verifies the plan, and their findings are made available to consumers. According to the Commission, this applies to claims about products and at company level. The plan and the findings do not have to be on the same medium as the claim. According to the Commission, a reference, for example a QR code leading to the website, is sufficient.

On offsetting, the Commission clarifies that point 4c only concerns claims about products. Claims about offsetting at company level remain subject to the other rules. A company may report on investments in climate projects if the presentation is not misleading. How typical offsetting wordings are classified is shown in the table in the guide EmpCo Directive.

Group websites often also contain statements on working conditions, supply chains or diversity. Social characteristics are now among the main characteristics about which advertising must not mislead (Art. 6(1)(b)). More on this in the section Social claims.

Example of a homepage

The schematic example shows the top of a group website. On the left is a generic promise, on the right a target with plan, scope and verification.

Brand names and own labels

Brand, company and product names are explicitly part of the definition of an environmental claim, even if they are protected as trade marks. According to the Commission, “green” or “blue” in the name is not automatically an environmental claim. If the name creates an environmental association for the average consumer, it needs a specification on the same medium or proof under point 4a. The Commission also refers to the Trade Marks Directive (EU) 2015/2436. Under it, Member States can refuse to register such trade marks or declare them invalid.

Own labels of individual brands are only permitted if they are based on a certification scheme. The scheme must be open to all traders that meet the requirements. Monitoring is carried out by a third party, which according to the Commission must be an entity legally separate from the scheme owner. The directive does not rule out the group itself owning the scheme. The four criteria for a certification scheme are in the guide EmpCo Directive.

If several brands in a group use their own wording, the company tells the same consumers different things. A shared list of approved wording keeps the language consistent across all brands.

Sustainability report and advertising

Reports under the CSRD are aimed at investors and are usually mandatory. According to the Commission, they therefore generally do not fall under the UCPD. If a company uses information from the report in voluntary advertising for consumers, the UCPD applies to that advertising.

In practice, figures from the report travel into press releases, campaigns and product pages. In the report they come with a method and an assurance statement, in the banner often on their own. A list of which statements from the report may go into which channel, and which specification travels with them, helps.

Directive (EU) 2026/470 of February 24, 2026, known as the Omnibus package, narrows the reporting obligation. At individual level it will apply to undertakings with more than 1,000 employees and a net turnover of more than 450 million euros. The UCPD applies to advertising aimed at consumers regardless of any reporting obligation. If a group company drops out of the reporting obligation, the data collected so far can continue to serve as evidence for environmental claims.

Press archives and social media

Press releases about products or brands can be commercial communication. Whatever is in the archive remains public and findable, often for years. Newsroom, blog and archives therefore belong in the inventory. The same applies to old social media posts. For each entry, the legal department can decide whether it stays, gets a note or goes offline.

Section 15b UWG, promulgated on Oct 27, 2026 (BGBl. 2026 I No. 322), concerns claims relating to goods placed on the market before Sep 27, 2026. It applies up to and including Sep 26, 2028. It does not mention press releases and posts.

Data sheets and retailer portals

Manufacturers supply texts and images to retailers via portals, PIM exports and marketing hubs. There they end up on product pages and in feeds. Anyone cleaning up claims within their own group should therefore also check the data that goes to retailers. Who is responsible in an individual case is governed by national law. What retailers see is described in the guide EmpCo in online shops.

Since Sep 27, 2026, the data for retailers also includes new mandatory information. Retailers show the minimum period for software updates, repair information and the label for commercial guarantees of durability where the producer makes this information available. According to recital 36, retailers are not required to search for it themselves.

B2B content

According to the Commission, pure B2B communication does not fall under the UCPD. Other rules apply to it, such as Directive 2006/114/EC concerning misleading and comparative advertising, in Germany the UWG. Member States may extend the protection to B2B relations, but this is not part of the harmonized EU framework. Openly accessible data sheets or white papers can also reach consumers. For the inventory it is simpler to check them as well.

Approach in six steps

1. Create a domain inventory. This includes all group, brand, country and campaign sites and the subdomains for newsroom, careers and data sheets.
2. Crawl all domains, including JavaScript, storing the HTML for each URL.
3. Agree a list of terms with the legal department and the sustainability team, for all languages and markets. Social claims belong on it.
4. Sort findings by brand and page type, templates first.
5. Define an approval process for new environmental claims, with a shared list of permitted wording.
6. Keep checking. New campaigns and brand launches bring new claims.

The claims competitors and associations have in case of infringements are shown in the guide EmpCo Directive.

Common mistakes

• Checking only the group website and overlooking microsites of old campaigns.
• Letting each brand work with its own list of terms.
• Leaving out the press archive and PDFs.
• Taking figures from the sustainability report into advertising without the method.
• Dropping the data basis for existing claims once the reporting obligation ends.
• Forgetting data deliveries to retailers.

Frequently asked questions