Digital Passport (DPP): the European Union in the fight against greenwashing in the fashion industry
Framework
Sustainability has taken centre stage in the communication of fashion brands. Expressions such as "eco-friendly", "conscious" or "responsible" have become commonplace in commercial discourse, reflecting consumers' growing appreciation of environmental and ethical criteria. However, this trend has brought with it a significant legal risk: greenwashing. Greenwashing occurs when a brand communicates environmental practices or sustainability attributes in a misleading, vague or insufficiently substantiated way, which is likely to mislead the consumer. The inaccurate use of environmental claims jeopardises consumer confidence and justifies an increasingly demanding regulatory response.
Greenwashing and its legal consequences
Greenwashing is not an innocuous way of reacting to consumers' environmental concerns. It is a phenomenon that can give rise to legal liability and has been receiving increasing attention from regulators and supervisory authorities. In recent years, several brands have been the target of lawsuits, regulatory investigations or administrative measures related to environmental allegations. In the case of H&M, legal action was taken in relation to its "Conscious" line, in which it was alleged that certain sustainability claims were not sufficiently substantiated. At the same time, in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered the withdrawal of adverts from brands such as Nike, Lacoste and Superdry, on the grounds that they did not adequately prove the environmental benefits advertised. In addition, the Italian competition authority (AGCM) fined Shein 1 million euros for environmental statements that were considered generic or vague. These cases demonstrate that generic or inaccurate claims can lead to litigation, administrative sanctions and significant reputational damage, reinforcing the need for properly substantiated sustainable communication.
The new European framework: the Digital Product Passport
In this context, the European Union is developing a new regulatory framework aimed at strengthening transparency and combating greenwashing, providing for the mandatory introduction of the DigitalProduct Passport (DPP) from 2027. The DPP is the result of a European regulatory effort to improve the sustainability of products throughout their life cycle, providing credible and reliable information to consumers and companies. It is part of the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan and is based on Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, "Ecodesign for Sustainable Products" ("ESPR"), which came into force in 2024. The ESPR gives the European Commission the power to define specific sustainability criteria, performance requirements and information, and is the legal basis for making the DPD a tool for ensuring compliance and traceability of these criteria. The European Commission is expected to adopt delegated and implementing acts under the ESPR between 2027 and 2028, covering textiles in the first instance - especially clothing - as well as electronics, furniture, detergents, paints and metals. In the case of clothing, the PMF will function as a digital identity card for each garment, accessible via QR codes or equivalent means, gathering standardised and auditable information on the composition of materials, the production chain, resource consumption and the environmental impact throughout the product's life cycle. Sustainability claims are thus no longer based exclusively on marketing messages, and objective and accessible factual support is now required. This regime represents a significant change in the legal framework for sustainability. By making environmental information structured and enforceable, sustainability now takes on the nature of a real obligation. For companies, this implies the need to strengthen internal mechanisms for collecting and validating data, as well as aligning commercial communication with effective compliance practices. It is important to emphasise that these requirements do not only apply to companies established in the European Union. All textile products placed on the European market, regardless of where they are produced, will have to fulfil the requirements of the digital passport. The traceability of raw materials and the consistent collection of data throughout the production chain require manufacturers and suppliers, including those based in third countries, to adapt their processes in good time. Although particularly demanding in a sector characterised by long and fragmented production chains, this new framework may also represent an opportunity to structure more robust internal processes in line with a European standard of transparency.
Consumer law framework
The introduction of the digital passport is a logical development of the structuring principles of European consumer law, in particular the duties of transparency and truthfulness of information. When sustainability is used as a relevant factor in the purchasing decision, environmental claims cease to be merely promotional and become part of the economic basis of consumer consent. The DPD contributes to reducing the information asymmetry between companies and consumers, making it possible to objectively verify whether the sustainability attributes claimed correspond to the reality of the product. In this way, it densifies requirements already inherent in consumer law, preventing situations of misleading through unfounded environmental declarations.
Advertising and competition
In the field of advertising and competition, the PPD introduces an objective parameter to control environmental claims used in commercial communication. The existence of structured and scrutinisable information makes it possible to directly confront advertising claims with underlying technical data, reducing the scope for vague or promotional messages that lack foundation. This development contributes to fairer competition by limiting differentiation strategies based on unprovable environmental claims and by enabling more effective monitoring by the competent authorities.
Compliance and ESG
From a business perspective, the digital passport strengthens the link between sustainability, compliance and ESG policies. The obligation to collect and make available reliable data throughout the production chain implies a strengthening of due diligence duties, especially when it comes to monitoring suppliers and production processes. In addition, although the DPP should not collect users' personal data, its digital implementation requires compliance with the GDPR and strict cybersecurity standards, ensuring that the information systems and platforms that store and transmit this data are protected against unauthorised access, manipulation or breaches of privacy and guarantee their security by default. Sustainability thus ceases to be a purely reputational element and becomes a legally relevant commitment, subject to proof and monitoring. Legal support plays a central role, not only in responding to regulatory requirements, but also in a preventive risk management approach. Despite the costs associated with adaptation, compliance with this new framework can be an opportunity to strengthen the credibility of business practices and align them with the European Union's transparency requirements.
Conclusion
The introduction of the mandatory Digital Product Passport for garments marketed in the European Union is a major milestone in the legal approach to greenwashing. By requiring environmental claims to be backed up by structured and verifiable information, the European Union is consolidating sustainability as a legally relevant element in consumer relations and business activity, moving away from a merely declarative or reputational logic. By imposing traceability, coherence and documentary proof requirements, the digital passport significantly limits the use of vague or unfounded environmental claims and strengthens the mechanisms for holding companies accountable. This new standard of transparency not only contributes to more effective consumer protection and fairer competition, but also projects sustainability as a central axis of corporate compliance in the fashion sector.
