The Competition Bureau (the Bureau) published finalized guidelines on the anti-greenwashing provisions of the Competition Act (the Act) on June 5, 2025. While they do not change significantly from draft guidelines the Bureau released for comment in late 2024, they provide helpful incremental guidance.
The guidelines confirm that the Bureau is focused on marketing and other promotional representations, which have historically been under the deceptive marketing provisions of the Act. According to the guidelines, the Bureau is not concerned with “representations made solely for other purposes or that are regulated by other government agencies”. As an example, the guidelines indicate the Bureau will not be concerned with the communication of environmental information to current and prospective investors where such communications are regulated by securities laws. This strongly suggests that sustainability disclosure that is regulated by other agencies will not be the focus of Bureau enforcement considerations.
To be clear, however, there could be liability if businesses reuse environmental representations made in securities filings or other regulated disclosures for promotional purposes. In other words, the Bureau could still take an interest in environmental claims that are regulated by another government agency if they are also used in marketing and promotional activities.
The guidelines include several other incremental changes:
After June 20, 2025, private litigants will be able seek leave to bring an application to the Tribunal if it is in the public interest to do so. While the Bureau’s guidelines provide reasonable and practical interpretations of the anti-greenwashing provisions, they do not constrain private litigants, nor do they bind the Competition Tribunal or courts. It remains to be seen, for example, whether environmental activist groups could successfully pursue enforcement action against businesses for representations that were not intended for promotional purposes, including any such representations in sustainability disclosures. The Bureau plans to publish new guidelines regarding this private right of access, which will help inform whether it will make submissions in response to an application for leave by a private applicant, and whether it will intervene if leave is granted. While interpretive jurisprudence around the new greenwashing provisions develops, it will be prudent for businesses to be informed by, but not rely exclusively on, the Bureau guidelines when considering how to substantiate their environmental claims.
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