GREENWASHING NO MORE: THE CASE FOR STRONGER REGULATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rotman, Robin M.; Gossett, Chloe J.; Goldman, Hope D.
• 署名单位: University of Missouri System; University of Missouri Columbia; Georgetown University
• 刊物名称: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-8368
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 417-443
• 关键词: green

摘要

Fraudulent and deceptive environmental claims in marketing (sometimes called greenwashing') are a persistent problem in the United States, despite nearly thirty years of efforts by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prevent it. This Essay focuses on a recent trend in greenwashing-fraudulent organic claims for nonagricultural products, such as home goods and personal care products. We offer three recommendations. First, we suggest ways that the FTC can strengthen its oversight of organic claims for nonagricultural products and improve coordination with the USDA. Second, we argue for inclusion of guidelines for organic claims in the next revision of the FTC's Guidelines for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (often referred to as the Green Guides), which the FTC is scheduled to revise in 2022. Finally, we assert that the FTC should formalize the Green Guides as binding regulations, rather than their current form as nonbinding interpretive guidance, as the USDA has done for the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations. This Essay concludes that more robust regulatory oversight of organic claims, together with efforts by the FTC to prevent otherforms of greenwashing, will ultimately bolster demand for sustainable products and incentivize manufacturers to innovate to meet this demand.