Does the EmpCo Directive
also apply for the
B2B sector?
Does the EmpCo Directive
also apply for the
B2B sector?
of
Starting September 27, 2026, the EmpCo Directive will significantly tighten the rules governing environmental and sustainability advertising. But what applies to companies that do not sell to consumers at all, but instead supply only other businesses?
The EmpCo Policy and B2B
The EmpCo Directive, which takes effect on September 27, 2026, tightens the rules for environmental and sustainability advertising. However, it is primarily aimed at business practices involving consumers.
For purely B2B companies, this might seem like cause for relief. However, the situation is more complicated in the German implementation, as some of the new EmpCo requirements also apply to B2B transactions via German competition law.
The EmpCo itself generally applies only to B2C transactions.
The EmpCo Directive amends, in particular, the European Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices. This Directive applies exclusively to commercial practices by businesses toward consumers.
The European Commission also confirms this principle. Purely B2B business practices do not fall within the scope of the directive. For more details, please see our FAQs from the European Commission on the EmpCo Directive.
However, this does not mean that purely B2B providers do not need to concern themselves with the new sustainability rules at all.
The German implementation also extends, in part, to the B2B sector
German competition law protects not only consumers, but also competitors and other market participants. The general prohibition on misleading advertising therefore also applies to relationships between businesses.
This is precisely where the German implementation of EmpCo comes into play. EmpCo expands the list of product characteristics that must not be misrepresented to include environmental and social characteristics, as well as aspects such as durability, reparability, and recyclability.
Germany has incorporated this addition into the general misleading advertising provision of the UWG. However, this provision applies not only to B2C but also to B2B.
The Federal Government explicitly clarifies this in the explanatory memorandum to the government bill, BT-Drs. 21/1855, p. 31. It states that these characteristics can already be covered by the general provision on misleading advertising, which applies to both business-to-business and business-to-consumer relationships. This means that key sustainability aspects of the EmpCo Directive are explicitly extended to the B2B sector as well.
This is because the aspects to be added —namely, “environmental and social characteristics, as well as circularity aspects such as durability, reparability, or recyclability”—can already be subsumed under the current list in Section 5(2)(1) of the UWG, which applies to both business-to-business and business-to-consumer relationships.
Overreach or Merely Clarification?
The federal government, however, does not view this as a genuine expansion of existing B2B law. In its view, environmental and social characteristics, as well as durability, reparability, and recyclability, could already be considered essential product characteristics. In the legislative memorandum, the amendment is therefore explicitly described as merely clarifying.
From a legal technical standpoint, it is therefore open to debate whether one can even speak of an overreach in implementation.
For businesses, the outcome is more important: Starting September 27, 2026, the UWG explicitly lists these sustainability criteria—in a provision that also applies to B2B advertising.
What does this mean in practice?
For example, a manufacturer that supplies only other companies might advertise as follows:
- 30% more energy-efficient.
- 100% recyclable.
- Produced under fair working conditions.
- Twice the lifespan.
If such information is false or likely to be misleading, and if it could influence a business customer’s purchasing decision, this may constitute anti-competitive misleading conduct even in a purely B2B relationship.
This is certainly relevant in practical terms. Business customers need information on emissions, recyclability, energy consumption, and social production conditions—for example, for requests for proposals, supply chains, their own sustainability goals, or communication with their customers.
It remains to be seen whether this will lead to stricter requirements than the current guidelines on misleading greenwashing.
But not all EmpCo bans apply in the B2B sector
However, the German implementation does not mean that all new EmpCo prohibitions also apply to businesses.
In particular, the new absolute bans on the so-called “blacklist” apply only in the B2C sector. These include, for example, certain general environmental statements, impermissible sustainability labels, or certain compensation-based climate claims.
A statement may therefore be impermissible to consumers solely on the basis of a specific EmpCo prohibition, whereas in a purely B2B context, it must be evaluated based on the general prohibition against misleading advertising.
Example: “Environmentally Friendly”
The general claim “environmentally friendly” will be subject to particularly strict requirements when directed at consumers in the future. In a purely B2B context, this specific EmpCo prohibition generally does not apply. Nevertheless, the claim is not automatically permissible.
If business customers interpret “environmentally friendly” to mean, for example, that a product offers significant environmental benefits compared to similar products, even though such benefits do not actually exist, this may constitute misleading advertising even in the B2B context.
The difference thus lies primarily in the standard of review and the requirements. While such a statement may always be impermissible in the B2C sector solely on the basis of the law, in the B2B sector it must be accompanied by specific misleading conduct.
Promises about the future, on the other hand, are explicitly limited to B2C
The fact that German lawmakers deliberately distinguish between B2B and B2C is particularly evident in statements regarding future environmental performance, such as:
We will be producing in a climate-neutral manner by 2030.
In this regard, the EmpCo Directive sets forth specific requirements, such as a detailed implementation plan, measurable goals, and regular independent reviews.
In the German federal government’s explanatory memorandum, BT-Drs. 21/1855, p. 32, it is explicitly clarified that this special provision applies only to the B2C sector.
A similar promise regarding the future in a purely B2B context is therefore not automatically subject to these specific requirements. However, it must, of course, still not be misleading.
B2B is also distinguished when it comes to sustainability labels
The situation is similar with sustainability labels. In report BT-Drs. 21/3327, p. 20, the Bundestag’s Legal Affairs Committee expressly states that sustainability labels intended exclusively for the B2B sector are not to fall under the new definition of a sustainability label.
This, too, shows that the EmpCo rules are not being extended across the board to B2B. For more information on sustainability labels and other new prohibitions, please see our FAQs on the EmpCo Directive.
Conclusion
The EmpCo Directive itself remains, in principle, consumer protection law.
However, the German implementation ensures that environmental and social characteristics, as well as durability, reparability, and recyclability, are explicitly included in a provision on misleading advertising that also applies in the B2B sector between companies. That said, it is often argued that these points were already covered by the definition of misleading advertising.
Companies that operate exclusively in the B2B sector and use environmental or sustainability claims in their advertising should therefore familiarize themselves with at least some parts of the EmpCo Directive and its implementation in Germany.
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