Spontaneous sustainability labels and the right to reliable information

Abstract

Our main objective is to approach spontaneous sustainability labels, alreadybdescribed in another text, analyzing them, this time, from the point of view of the consumer’s right to reliable information. With an interest in sustainable consumption, we have used as a methodology the contrast between the functions that economic sciences recognize to these labels, with the regulation on the right to information and misleading advertising, in order to determine whether this adequately protects the conscious consumer against the certifications that we call “artificial”. Our conclusion affirms that these certifications are indeed punishable under the rules on reliable information and advertising, without prejudice to note that the lack of specific regulation of the certification industry may result in the supplier being held responsible for artificialities that are attributable to the certifiers or inspectors, “intervening third parties” that are not covered by the hypotheses provided for in the law.