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Länder-Leitfaden
Private enforcement by competitors and trade associations is fast, cheap for the claimant and already active — you can be in court long before an authority looks at you.
Die Länderangaben unten — Behörde, Gesetz, Bußgeldrahmen, Rechtsprechung und die lokalen Formulierungen — bleiben auf Englisch. Sie zitieren nationales Recht und benennen Behörden und Urteile; eine maschinelle Übersetzung davon wäre genau die Ungenauigkeit, vor der dieses Werkzeug warnt. Im Zweifel gilt der englische Wortlaut, und maßgeblich ist ohnehin das Gesetz Ihres Marktes.
Wettbewerbszentrale, consumer associations and competitors
Germany enforces unfair commercial practices mainly through private action under the UWG. Any competitor or qualified association can send a cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung) and seek an injunction.
Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (UWG), amended to transpose Directive 2024/825.
Germany runs on private enforcement, and that is the part a shop actually meets: competitors and qualified associations issue an Abmahnung and can obtain an injunction, with the other side's costs attached. The UWG administrative fine of up to EUR 50,000 exists (§ 19(2)) but § 19(3) restricts it to widespread infringements pursued through coordinated CPC enforcement under Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 — for an ordinary domestic case there is no administrative fine at all. Where the fine does apply and the trader's turnover is large, it rises to 4% of annual turnover in the member states concerned, or EUR 2 million where turnover cannot be estimated. Verified against gesetze-im-internet.de on 23 August 2026.
Gegen die Primärquelle geprüft — gesetze-im-internet.de, UWG § 19, 2026-08-23 (35 Tage her).
Markt
Praktisch
Lokale Formulierungen
Übersetzte Texte werden in der Landessprache beurteilt, und die nationale Rechtsprechung hat bestimmten Begriffen bereits Bedeutung zugewiesen.
| Lokaler Begriff | Auf Englisch | Warum es hier zählt |
|---|---|---|
| klimaneutral | climate neutral | The most litigated term in Germany. BGH requires the meaning to be explained in the advertisement itself. |
| umweltfreundlich | environmentally friendly | Generic claim — needs recognised excellent environmental performance. |
| nachhaltig | Sustainable | Treated as a whole-product claim; scope must be stated. |
| ökologisch | Ecological | Read by consumers as implying organic certification. |
| CO2-neutral | CO2 neutral | Same treatment as klimaneutral. |
| biologisch abbaubar | Biodegradable | Requires conditions, timeframe and test standard. |
| erneuerbare Rohstoffe | Renewable | "Renewable" says the input regrows, not that the product is better. Without the share, the source and the certification it carries the weight of an environmental benefit it has not demonstrated — and for energy it needs a supplier-specific figure, not a national grid average. |
| natürlich | Natural | "Natural" reads as an environmental and safety benefit but has no legal definition outside food and cosmetics standards. Natural origin also does not make a substance harmless. |
| erdfreundlich | Earth-friendly | A planetary-scale benefit claim with no scope, no metric and no possible substantiation for an individual product. |
| naturfreundlich | Nature's friend | A figurative benefit claim. Regulators read implied environmental claims the same way as explicit ones, and the figurative framing makes it harder, not easier, to substantiate. |
| umweltgerecht | Environmentally correct | Claims conformity with an unstated environmental norm. There is no such general norm, so the claim cannot be tested. |
| klimafreundlich | Climate friendly | Suggests a positive or neutral climate effect for a product that still emits. Where the basis is offsetting it also breaches the offsetting ban. |
| umweltschonend | Gentle on the environment | A softened generic claim. Softening the wording does not narrow the scope — it still asserts low overall impact. |
| Nachhaltigkeit | Sustainability | Used as a product or badge label (“Sustainability score”, “Sustainability choice”) it is a generic claim and has to be substantiated. The word also has a legitimate use as the title of a real report or policy page — we cannot tell the two apart from the wording alone, so we flag it and leave the judgement to you. If this instance is a report title, mark it and move on. |
| schadstofffrei | Non-toxic | Toxicity is dose-dependent and substance-specific, so a blanket "non-toxic" is not demonstrable. It also implies competitors are toxic. |
| umweltunbedenklich | Not harmful to the environment | An absolute negative claim about all environmental compartments. It cannot be demonstrated for a manufactured good. |
| CO2-reduziert | CO2 reduced | A reduction claim is only meaningful against a stated baseline, scope and period. Without them the buyer cannot tell what was reduced or from what. |
| CO2-negativ | Carbon negative | An even stronger version of the neutrality claim, and equally dependent on credits. Point 4c covers neutral, reduced and positive impact claims based on offsetting. |
| klimapositiv | Climate positive | Claims the product improves the climate. Offsetting cannot support it, and no other basis is normally available. |
| CO2-kompensiert | CO2 compensated | Compensation is offsetting under another name; the prohibition follows the substance of the claim, not the wording. |
| emissionsfrei | Zero emissions | Absolute and almost always false for a physical product across its lifecycle. It is defensible only for a narrowly defined stage that genuinely emits nothing, and the stage must be named. |
| emissionsarm | Low carbon | "Low" is implicitly comparative and therefore needs a disclosed benchmark. Low compared to what, measured how? |
| klimakompensiert | Climate compensated | Same prohibition. Nordic regulators have been particularly active against this phrasing. |
| CO2-ausgeglichen | Carbon balanced | "Balanced" implies emissions have been cancelled out — a neutrality claim built on credits. |
| klimaausgeglichen | Climate balanced | As above: a neutrality claim in softer wording, with the same legal treatment. |
| CO2-Kompensation | Carbon offset | Offsetting itself is not illegal — presenting it as making the product neutral, reduced-impact or positive is. The claim must not be attached to the product's environmental performance. |
| CO2-freundlich | Carbon friendly | Implies emissions are benign. Combines the generic-claim problem with an unquantified climate assertion. |
| kompostierbar | Compostable | Industrial and home composting are different capabilities, and most consumers have access only to the latter. Unqualified, the claim misdirects disposal behaviour. |
| recycelbar | Recyclable | Technically recyclable is not the same as actually collected. If no separate collection stream exists in the markets you sell to, the claim misleads. |
| recycelt | Recycled | The trap is scope: "recycled packaging" on a product with a virgin plastic bottle and a recycled outer sleeve is a partial benefit presented as a whole-product one. |
| biobasiert | Bio-based | Bio-based says where the carbon came from, not that the product is compostable, recyclable or lower impact — yet consumers read all three into it. |
| plastikfrei | Plastic-free | Frequently false at component level: adhesives, liners, coatings and labels usually contain polymers. It also implies an overall environmental benefit that a heavier alternative may not deliver. |
| chemiefrei | Chemical-free | Scientifically impossible — all matter is chemical. It plays on chemophobia and cannot be substantiated in any form. |
| grüner als | Greener than... | A comparison is only fair if the buyer can see what was compared, on which impacts, using which data. "Greener" discloses none of it. |
| umweltfreundlicher | Eco-friendlier | Comparative form of a term that is already too vague in its base form. |
| nachhaltiger | More sustainable | "Nachhaltiger" ist ein Komparativ ohne Bezugspunkt: nachhaltiger als was? |
| BPA-frei | BPA-free | BPA in Lebensmittelkontakt ist EU-weit beschränkt — gesetzliche Pflicht als Vorteil dargestellt. |
| CE-zertifiziert | CE certified | Die CE-Kennzeichnung ist Marktzugangsvoraussetzung, kein Qualitätssiegel. |
| tierversuchsfrei | No animal testing | Tierversuche für Kosmetik sind in der EU seit 2013 verboten — kein Unterscheidungsmerkmal. |
| REACH-konform | REACH compliant | Meeting REACH is not a feature — it is the baseline every seller in the EU already has to clear. Presenting it as a benefit is what point 10a of Annex I now forbids. |
| RoHS-konform | RoHS compliant | RoHS applies to electrical and electronic equipment across the EU, so every competitor on the shelf is in the same position. Advertising it as an advantage is the practice point 10a lists. |
| CLP-gekennzeichnet | CLP labelled | Hazard labelling under Regulation 1272/2008 is required for classified substances and mixtures. Advertising it implies a voluntary safety step. |
| phthalatfrei | Phthalate-free | The main phthalates are restricted or authorisation-only under REACH Annex XVII and XIV, so for most consumer goods absence is the legal baseline. |
| Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung | Own sustainability score | A self-calculated score is a sustainability label under the Directive. Self-issued rating systems are exactly what point 2a targets. |
| Kreislaufwirtschaft | Circular | Kreislauf-Behauptung ohne Rücknahmeweg ist eine Absicht, keine Eigenschaft. |
| Klimaschutz | Climate protection | Erwägungsgrund 9 nennt genau diese Wortfamilie als allgemeine Umweltaussage. |
| positive Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt, positiv Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt | Positive impact | Nettopositiv-Behauptung — die stärkste Form der allgemeinen Umweltaussage. |
| im Einklang mit der Natur | In harmony with nature | Nicht messbar; liest sich als Umweltvorteil, verpflichtet aber zu nichts. |
| die Umwelt weniger belasten, Umwelt weniger zu belasten | Lower environmental impact | Vergleich ohne Basislinie, Umfang und Größe der Reduktion. |
| Ressourcen schonen, Ressourcen zu schonen | Resource-saving | Welche Ressource, gegenüber was, um wie viel — alles offen. |
| regenerative Landwirtschaft, regeneratives Wirtschaftssystem, regenerative Baumwolle | Regenerative | Matched as a phrase, not as a bare adjective. On its own the German word is ordinary vocabulary — "regenerative Energien" means renewables, "regenerative Medizin" is a field, "regenerative Bremse" is a brake — and none of those is an environmental claim. |
Häufige Funde
Siegel
Blauer Engel
State-backed Type I ecolabel, one of the strongest defences against a generic-claim allegation.
EMAS
EU environmental management scheme — site-level, does not substantiate product claims on its own.
Grüner Knopf
State textile label covering social and environmental criteria.
Bio-Siegel
Organic label tied to Regulation (EU) 2018/848.
Rechtsprechung
Die Durchsetzungsgeschichte ist der beste verfügbare Anhaltspunkt dafür, wie eine Aussage gelesen wird.
BGH I ZR 98/23 (June 2024)
The Federal Court of Justice held that advertising a product as “klimaneutral” is misleading unless the advertisement itself explains whether neutrality is achieved by reduction or by offsetting. The case concerned a confectionery manufacturer.
OLG Düsseldorf (2023), reversed on appeal
The appeal court had dismissed the claim, holding the term sufficiently clear in context. The BGH took the opposite view a year later — a useful reminder that the lower-court picture was not settled before 2024.
Regional court decisions on offsetting
First-instance courts split on offset-based neutrality claims before the BGH ruling. Since 2024 the direction is settled, and Annex I point 4c now removes the question from the courts entirely.
Fallzusammenfassungen sind zur Orientierung paraphrasiert und entsprechend vereinfacht. Prüfen Sie die Entscheidung selbst, bevor Sie sich darauf stützen.
Anderswo
Frankreich
DGCCRF
Niederlande
ACM (Autoriteit Consument & Markt)
Spanien
Regional consumer authorities and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs
Italien
AGCM (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato)
Estland
Tarbijakaitse ja Tehnilise Järelevalve Amet (TTJA)
Finnland
Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto (KKV)
Schweden
Konsumentverket / Konsumentombudsmannen (KO)
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