Greenwashing – description of the phenomenon and attempt towards its legal qualification

Abstract

The goal of this article was to describe the phenomenon of the “greenwashing” – unfair marketing behavior, which deceives consumers in relation to a trader’s ecological practices or ecological benefits of his goods or services. This work presents a typology of this phenomenon as proposed by TerraChoice Inc. Moreover, an attempt towards its legal qualification to the norms of competition law and norms relating to organic production has been undertaken. This analysis was supported by the study of judiciary decisions of S candinavian countries, which consciously oppose against any forms of unfair ecological advertisement. This article also presents also the sources of soft law in which the vague definitions of the universally binding law have been specified.