New European Union rules targeting unsubstantiated environmental claims will apply to Influencer Marketing campaigns starting September 27, 2026, under EU Directive 2024/825, transposed into Italian law by Legislative Decree 30/2026, according to a report from Il Sole 24 Ore. The measure sharpens the standard for environmental claims that companies have often treated primarily as a disclosure issue on social platforms.
The directive targets generic claims such as “100% sustainable,” “planet-friendly,” “zero impact,” or “green” when they are not backed by evidence. Il Sole 24 Ore reports that the underlying principle is not new: rules on unfair commercial practices under Italy’s Consumer Code and the Advertising Self-Regulatory Code already apply to all forms of commercial communication regardless of channel, and Italy’s competition and communications authorities, AGCM and AGCOM, have sharpened their focus on Influencer Marketing in recent years. What changes with the September deadline is the specificity of the standard applied to environmental and comparative claims, which the report says many companies have so far treated as a matter of using disclosure hashtags like #adv or #partnership rather than substantive backing for the claim itself.
Responsibility for validating those claims sits with the brand paying for the campaign, not the creator posting it. Il Sole 24 Ore reports that claims made through an influencer must be substantiated with the same rigor as a television advertisement or press campaign, and that handing the message to a creator does not reduce the evidentiary burden on the company behind it. The report notes that influencers and agencies are advised to negotiate contracts accordingly, with clauses assigning liability for claim accuracy to the brand and indemnities protecting creators and agencies, since reputational fallout from a greenwashing accusation, or legal action, can extend to anyone who helped distribute the message.
The rule arrives inside an EU Influencer Marketing framework that is already fragmented across consumer protection, digital and audiovisual media law, a gap the European Parliamentary Research Service detailed in a December 2025 briefing. Italy’s communications authority AGCOM adopted a binding code of conduct in July 2025 covering influencers with at least 500,000 followers or one million monthly views, requiring standardized disclosure labels and barring content that could harm minors.
The EPRS briefing also notes that a 2024 sweep by the European Commission and national authorities across 22 member states found that 97% of influencers reviewed posted commercial content, but only about 20% consistently labeled it as advertising, a compliance gap the Commission has said it intends to address more broadly through a forthcoming Digital Fairness Act expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The Italian greenwashing rules are narrower than that broader initiative, since they target the substance of environmental claims specifically rather than commercial-intent disclosure generally, but they signal the same direction: national regulators are moving ahead of Brussels-level harmonization on influencer accountability, and Italy’s approach may serve as a reference point for other member states as the EU’s wider fairness legislation takes shape.
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
New European Union rules targeting unsubstantiated environmental claims will apply to Influencer Marketing campaigns starting September 27, 2026, under EU Directive 2024/825, transposed into Italian law by Legislative Decree 30/2026, according to a report from Il Sole 24 Ore. The measure sharpens the standard for environmental claims that companies have often treated primarily as a disclosure issue on social platforms.
The directive targets generic claims such as “100% sustainable,” “planet-friendly,” “zero impact,” or “green” when they are not backed by evidence. Il Sole 24 Ore reports that the underlying principle is not new: rules on unfair commercial practices under Italy’s Consumer Code and the Advertising Self-Regulatory Code already apply to all forms of commercial communication regardless of channel, and Italy’s competition and communications authorities, AGCM and AGCOM, have sharpened their focus on Influencer Marketing in recent years. What changes with the September deadline is the specificity of the standard applied to environmental and comparative claims, which the report says many companies have so far treated as a matter of using disclosure hashtags like #adv or #partnership rather than substantive backing for the claim itself.
Responsibility for validating those claims sits with the brand paying for the campaign, not the creator posting it. Il Sole 24 Ore reports that claims made through an influencer must be substantiated with the same rigor as a television advertisement or press campaign, and that handing the message to a creator does not reduce the evidentiary burden on the company behind it. The report notes that influencers and agencies are advised to negotiate contracts accordingly, with clauses assigning liability for claim accuracy to the brand and indemnities protecting creators and agencies, since reputational fallout from a greenwashing accusation, or legal action, can extend to anyone who helped distribute the message.
The rule arrives inside an EU Influencer Marketing framework that is already fragmented across consumer protection, digital and audiovisual media law, a gap the European Parliamentary Research Service detailed in a December 2025 briefing. Italy’s communications authority AGCOM adopted a binding code of conduct in July 2025 covering influencers with at least 500,000 followers or one million monthly views, requiring standardized disclosure labels and barring content that could harm minors.
The EPRS briefing also notes that a 2024 sweep by the European Commission and national authorities across 22 member states found that 97% of influencers reviewed posted commercial content, but only about 20% consistently labeled it as advertising, a compliance gap the Commission has said it intends to address more broadly through a forthcoming Digital Fairness Act expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The Italian greenwashing rules are narrower than that broader initiative, since they target the substance of environmental claims specifically rather than commercial-intent disclosure generally, but they signal the same direction: national regulators are moving ahead of Brussels-level harmonization on influencer accountability, and Italy’s approach may serve as a reference point for other member states as the EU’s wider fairness legislation takes shape.
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