FTC Requests Public Comments On Potential Updates To The "Green Guides"

Seyfarth Synopsis: For thirty years, the FTC has published non-binding guidance on how to avoid making "unfair" or "deceptive" environmental claims in its "Green Guides." The FTC has announced it may make its first update to the Green Guides in over ten years, and has put forth a request for public comment on potential changes. The period to submit comments closes on February 21, 2023.

On December 14, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") announced that it was seeking public comment to aid it in considering potential updates to the "Green Guides," a set of non-binding guidance aimed to help marketers avoid making environmental marketing claims that could be construed as "unfair" or "deceptive" under the FTC Act.¹ The FTC's Green Guides were first published in 1992, and have since been revised three times, most recently in 2012.² Since that time, both the FTC and private litigants have continued to pursue allegations that product labels or advertising