Directive (EU) 2024/825 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 February 2024 amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU as regards empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and through better information (the Green Transition Directive) entered into force on 26 March 2024. The Green Transition Directive amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/29/EC) (the UCPD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EU) (the CRD). It aims to ensure that consumers can make informed transactional decisions and in turn contribute to more sustainable consumption patterns.

The Green Transition Directive requires transposing measures to bring the changes into force. Ireland’s transposing measures, the European Union (Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition) Regulations 2026 (S.I. No. 124/2026) (the Regulations), were signed into law on 27 March 2026 and will come into operation on 27 September 2026. The Regulations amend the Consumer Protection Act 2007 (the 2007 Act) which is the primary legislation that gave effect to the UCPD in Ireland, and the Consumer Rights Act 2022, which is the primary legislation giving effect to the CRD.

Scope

The Green Transition Directive is drafted broadly and has cross-sector reach rather than a specific focus on any industry in particular. As such, the financial services sector is within scope in respect of services relating to banking, insurance, grants, loans, credit or financing.

This insights post is focussed on the amendments to the UCPD and the 2007 Act, as these are the changes with relevance for the financial services sector.

What is also key to note is that the Green Transition Directive is designed to introduce targeted changes to the existing horizontal ‘consumer protection safety net’ established by the UCPD and the CRD. However, where sector-specific Union law exists that regulates specific aspects of unfair commercial practices, that sector specify law will take precedence over the requirements of the Directive.

Changes Introduced by the Regulations

Misleading Commercial Practices

The 2007 Act prohibits misleading commercial practices in respect of consumer transactions and sets out the various circumstances in which a commercial practice will be misleading. These include practices involving the provision of false, misleading or deceptive information, or where material information necessary to allow a consumer to make an informed decision is withheld, omitted or concealed. In each case, it is a requirement that the practice would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a decision that they otherwise would not have made.

The Regulations now add that:

• providing false, misleading or deceptive information about a services’ environmental or social characteristics will constitute a misleading commercial practice; and
• where a trader provides a product comparison service with information on environmental or social characteristics, traders will be required to provide consumers with additional material information such as (i) the method of comparison (ii) the products which are the subject of the comparison (iii) the suppliers of the products and (iv) the measures in place to ensure that the information is kept up to date.

The Regulations also extend the scope of what is considered a misleading commercial practice to include:

• the making of an environmental claim related to future environmental performance without clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments set out in a detailed and realistic plan
• advertising benefits to consumers that are irrelevant

Again, in each case, it is a requirement that the practice would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a decision that they otherwise would not have made.

Blacklisted Commercial Practices

The 2007 Act prohibits a number of misleading commercial practices outright, and the Regulations expand the prohibited list with a number of new additions. Key ones of relevance to the financial services sector include:

• making a generic environmental claim, where the trader is not able to demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to that claim
• making an environmental claim relating to an entire product or the trader’s entire business, where the claim concerns only a certain aspect of that product or business
• displaying a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or established by a public body
• presenting requirements imposed by any enactment or law on all products within the relevant product category as a distinctive feature of the trader’s offer
• withholding information from a consumer about the fact that a software update will negatively impact on the use of digital content or digital services

On sustainability labels, the recitals to the Green Transition Directive helpfully provide that voluntary market-based or public standards for green and sustainable bonds should not be considered sustainability labels within the meaning of the Directive, as these products do not primarily target retail investors and are subject to specific laws.

If you require further information, please contact a member of the Financial Regulation Group or your usual Arthur Cox contact.