Competition Bureau Canada (the Bureau) announced just before Christmas that it is seeking public comments on draft guidelines (the Guidelines) for assessing environmental claims for compliance with Canada’s Competition Act (the Act). The Act was amended in June 2024 by adding two specific provisions to existing general prohibitions for false and misleading representations and unsupported performance claims to address environmental claims. Under the recent amendments, marketing claims about the environmental benefits of a product must be based on “adequate and proper testing” conducted before the claim is made, and claims about the environmental benefits of a business or business activity must “be based on adequate and proper substantiation in accordance with an internationally recognized methodology.”

The proposed Guidelines are based on six high-level principles, aimed at ensuring that environmental claims comply with all of the Act’s provisions, including the recent amendments:

• Environmental claims should be truthful, and not false or misleading.
• Environmental benefit of a product and performance claims should be adequately and properly tested.
• Comparative environmental claims should be specific about what is being compared.
• Environmental claims should avoid exaggeration.
• Environmental claims should be clear and specific, not vague.
• Environmental claims about the future should be supported by substantiation and a clear plan.

The principles outlined by the Bureau are consistent with generally accepted global principles for advertising, such as those reflected in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Marketing and Advertising Commission’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Code (available at The ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code - ICC - International Chamber of Commerce). The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (the FTC Green Guides) reflect these same general principles. Similar to the FTC Green Guides, the Bureau’s proposed Guidelines are not enforceable regulatory provisions, but are intended to help businesses understand how the Bureau is likely to apply the Act to green claims. 

However, the Bureau’s proposed Guidelines are more general than the FTC Green Guides and do not address specific green claims, such as “recyclable,” “compostable,” and the like. Illustrative examples in the Guidelines appear to focus on general substantiation principles (e.g., is substantiation suitable, appropriate, and relevant to a marketing claim) rather than specific thresholds (e.g., a “substantial majority” threshold (60%) for unqualified “recyclable” claims as in the FTC Green Guides). Unlike the EU directive on green claims adopted last spring (EU 2024/825), which prohibits certain “generic environmental benefit claims” (e.g., “green,” “eco-friendly,” “biodegradable”), neither the Guidelines nor the Act’s provisions bar specific claims or mandate independent certification of claims. And finally, like the FTC Green Guides, the Guidelines are intended to promote truthful advertising to foster a fair and competitive marketplace, not to advance environmental policy.

Importantly, the Guidelines are geared to promotional and marketing representations made to the public, not representations made exclusively for another purpose, such as representations to investors or shareholders. Where the same representations are made to the public and to investors or shareholders in Canada, however, the business must be mindful of the principles of the Guidelines. Businesses interested in sharing information to Canadians about the environmental benefits of their products, services, processes, and operations should be mindful of the Guidelines. For those who wish to weigh in on the draft Guidelines, the deadline for comments is February 28, 2025.