Graphic Media Alliance

09/25/2025

Canada’s Competition Bureau Issues Final Guidelines on Environmental Claims: What It Means for the Print and Paper Industry

Source: Two Sides North America, September 16, 2025

In June 2025, the Competition Bureau of Canada released its final guidelines for environmental claims, marking a significant development in the regulation of green marketing across all sectors, including print and paper. The move is a response to rising public concern over greenwashing and aligns with global efforts to increase transparency in environmental communications.

These guidelines come after a public consultation period held in 2024 and early 2025 and are rooted in recent amendments to the Competition Act, which were passed in June 2024. As a result, businesses operating in Canada now face stricter expectations when making environmental claims about their products and practices.

Core to its purpose, “the Act prohibits materially false or misleading advertising and deceptive marketing practices so that consumers can make informed choices in the marketplace that are free from the influence of deceptive promotional claims, including environmental claims. This helps foster a fair, competitive and innovative marketplace.”

Why the Guidelines Matter

For Two Sides North America and our members across the print, paper, and packaging sectors, these guidelines are especially relevant. Environmental messaging is a key part of our industry’s communication strategy, and the new guidelines signal a more rigorous enforcement environment for claims related to sustainability, recyclability, carbon footprint, and more.

As outlined in the Competition Bureau’s official release, these guidelines are intended to help businesses “ensure compliance with the Competition Act when making environmental claims. This includes the new greenwashing provisions added to the Act” last year. “Companies are free to make any environmental claims they wish, as long as they are not false or misleading, and have been adequately and properly tested or substantiated where required.”

This is a clear push to protect consumers and level the playing field among businesses by ensuring that only substantiated, verifiable environmental claims are promoted.

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