Dutch department store De Bijenkorf removes incorrect sustainability claims following an ACM action

Dutch department store De Bijenkorf has removed incorrect sustainability claims from its website. De Bijenkorf decided to do so after the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) had confronted the department store with those claims. De Bijenkorf used general and vague claims such as ‘Sustainable products’ (in Dutch: ‘duurzame producten’) and ‘Reduced environmental impact’ (in Dutch: ‘lagere milieu-impact’). In addition, it used a filter on its website called ‘sustainable selection’, without sufficiently substantiating this. The incorrect claims primarily concerned clothing and cosmetics. After ACM had confronted De Bijenkorf with these incorrect claims, De Bijenkorf took a detailed look at its claims, and removed the incorrect claims immediately.

Edwin van Houten, Director of ACM’s Consumer Department, comments: “We welcome businesses communicating about their sustainability efforts. However, they do need to be honest and clear about the contents of their sustainability claims, so that consumers are able to make more-sustainable choices. That’s why we confront businesses such as De Bijenkorf about the use of vague and general claims. Consumers can only rely on claims that are correct and easy-to-understand.”

Investigation into sustainability claims

In its investigation into sustainability claims this year, ACM focuses on the food sector and, more specifically, on coffee and cacao. In addition, ACM also conducts oversight over misleading sustainability claims in other sectors, on the basis of, among other aspects, the reports it receives.

Rules of thumb

Claims about sustainability need to be correct, clear, and complete. Businesses need to be able to factually substantiate the claims they make. This applies to all businesses that use sustainability claims. In order to offer businesses guidance regarding sustainability claims, ACM has published its Guidelines regarding Sustainability Claims, which contain five rules of thumb:

1. Use correct, clear, specific and complete sustainability claims.
2. Substantiate your sustainability claims with facts, and keep them up-to-date
3. Make fair comparisons with other products or competitors
4. Describe your future sustainability ambitions concretely and verifiably
5. Make sure that visual claims and labels are useful to consumers, not confusing.

ACM and sustainability

ACM ensures that markets work well for people and businesses, now and in the future. Sustainable products and sustainable consumption are essential for a future-ready society. ACM helps realize that through its oversight over sustainability claims of businesses. Consumers must be able to make more-sustainable choices with confidence.

Consumers are not the only ones that need to be protected against misleading sustainability claims. Businesses that make sustainability efforts must be protected against businesses that compete unfairly by using misleading claims.