Compliance calendar
Two dates are closing, and most claims will not survive them.
From 27 September 2026, Directive (EU) 2024/825 makes it a prohibited practice to display a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme, or to make a generic environmental claim you cannot demonstrate. From 31 December 2027, the Materials Matter Standard becomes mandatory and the certificates behind GRS, RCS and the Organic Content Standard run out.
Both deadlines assume something that is usually not true: that the person making the claim knows what their certificate actually covers. Most do not, because the marks are designed to be reassuring rather than precise, and the documentation that would settle it is spread across seven bodies in four languages.
Time remaining
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days
27 September 2026
Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies
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days
31 December 2027
Materials Matter becomes mandatory
Counted from today in your browser. If JavaScript is off, the dates above are the whole answer.
Ahead
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27 September 2026
EU
Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies
From this date it is a prohibited commercial practice to display a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities; to make a generic environmental claim without demonstrating recognized excellent environmental performance; or to claim a neutral, reduced or positive environmental impact on the basis of emissions offsetting.
Before this date
Inventory every label and generic word on packaging, product pages and ads for the EU market. For each, name the certification scheme behind it or remove it. Offset-based neutrality claims come off.
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31 December 2026
Textile Exchange
Materials Matter becomes effective
Eligible organizations can begin auditing against the new standard. Nothing is compulsory yet — this is the date the door opens.
Before this date
Ask your certification body when it can audit you against Materials Matter, and book early. Audit capacity is finite and the 2027 date is fixed.
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31 December 2027
Textile Exchange
Materials Matter becomes mandatory
All Tier 4 audits must use the Materials Matter Standard from this date. The certificates behind GRS, RCS and the Organic Content Standard stop being issued in their current form.
Before this date
Build the supplier certificate inventory with expiry dates now, and work backwards from December 2027 rather than forwards from today. A supplier whose certificate lapses mid-transition breaks your chain of custody.
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30 June 2029
Textile Exchange
Claims and labels must conform
The longer runway, and the one that touches far more assets: artwork, care labels, hangtags, packaging and product pages all have to carry conforming wording.
Before this date
Catalog every physical and digital asset carrying a mark. Re-artworking a care label has a lead time measured in seasons, not weeks.
Already passed
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20 September 2021
UK
Green Claims Code published
The CMA set out six principles explaining how existing consumer protection law applies to environmental claims. Last updated 3 June 2026.
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26 March 2024
EU
Directive (EU) 2024/825 in force
Adopted 28 February 2024, entered into force 26 March 2024. Entry into force starts the transposition clock; it does not yet bind traders.
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12 December 2025
Textile Exchange
Materials Matter Standard published
The final text of the standard that consolidates GRS, RCS, the Responsible Animal Fiber framework and the Organic Content Standard.
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27 March 2026
EU
Transposition deadline
Member States were required to have the Directive in national law by this date. National implementations differ; the market you sell into is the one that binds you.
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1 April 2026
Textile Exchange
Transition Policy published
Sets out what currently certified organizations must do to move across. Your certification body applies it to your specific position.
No date you can plan against
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Open
US
FTC Green Guides review — no date
The FTC opened its ten-year review on 20 December 2022 (docket FTC-2022-0077). Comments closed 24 April 2023 after roughly 7,066 submissions. Nothing has been published since, and the 2012 text remains in force.
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Open
EU
Green Claims Directive — status unclear
A separate instrument from 2024/825, covering substantiation and verification of explicit claims. Commentaries report the Commission announced an intention to withdraw it. It is not a date you can plan against.
Which of these actually reaches you?
That depends on where you sell and what your certificates cover — two questions the calendar cannot answer for you. The claim checker handles the first. For the second, send the certificates.
Dates verified against the instruments and the issuing bodies, 14 September 2026.