The Sustainable Consumption Law Will Ban Advertising of Short Flights and Gasoline

The Council of Ministers today gave the green light to the draft of the Sustainable Consumption Law, a regulation aimed at ending abuses such as ticket scalping at prices higher than the original or opaque shrinkflation, and the advertising of climate change-inducing products like fossil fuels, short domestic flights, or gasoline and diesel vehicles, while promoting repairs and eliminating greenwashing by companies that falsely present themselves as environmentally friendly.

However, the regulation must return to the Council of Ministers after receiving feedback from consultative bodies and then be approved by Parliament, meaning its implementation could be delayed for many months, unless it lapses due to the end of the legislative term. Its main novelties are as follows:

It bans any type of advertising for energy products composed exclusively of fossil-derived materials, without renewable components. The ban excludes gas. The restriction applies to advertisements broadcast by coal or oil sector companies.

The law also prohibits advertising of short flights when a cleaner alternative exists and does not increase travel time by more than two and a half hours. The ban applies only to domestic flights.

The advertising ban also affects vehicles powered exclusively by fossil fuels.

This type of advertisement, usually from security companies, relies on presenting extreme or unlikely scenarios, such as violent robberies, continuous squatting, or catastrophic vulnerabilities, to alarm potential customers. These commercial communications must be accompanied by quantitative or statistical information that allows consumers to make a real assessment of the risk.

The reform seeks to combat 'greenwashing'. Deceptive communication techniques used by some companies to advertise their products or services as sustainable without scientific backing. The law will prohibit generic and unverifiable claims about the sustainability of their products. Examples of banned claims include: "environmentally friendly", "eco-friendly", "green", "biodegradable", and similar statements.

The aim is to combat planned obsolescence, which intentionally reduces the lifespan of products like appliances so that people replace them prematurely. The law will encourage product repairs during the legal warranty period, extending this period by an additional twelve months when opting for repair instead of replacement under warranty. The standard warranty is usually three years, thus extending to four. Similarly, the producer, marketer, or importer, when the producer is outside the EU, must cover 20% of the repair cost during the first two years after the end of the legal warranty period. This obligation is set at 10% in the third year and 5% in the fourth. An online platform will be created where consumers can easily and freely access reliable repairers to request quotes and repairs.

This is a technique used by many companies where they reduce the amount of product in the same package (e.g., reducing chips from 100 grams to 80) but charge the same, effectively raising the price without notice. Companies must clearly and comprehensibly notify if they reduce the content of a package or the number of units included without lowering the price. Companies must indicate at the point of sale, in a "legible and visible" manner, the reduction of product made and the price increase it entails for no less than 90 days from the new marketing formula.