By Mary Ann Mullin and Daniel J. Deeb (October 16, 2012)

With release of its revised Green Guides on Oct. 1, the Federal Trade Commission raised the bar for how marketers can defend claims of environmental benefit. Authors of this article analyze how the examination of life-cycle impacts of a product or service has evolved since the first revision of the Green Guides in 1998 and through a draft proposal in 2010. The new guidelines, while not agency rules or regulations, say marketers should examine all environmental impacts over the life cycle of a product before making environmental benefit claims. The guides are more descriptive about the kinds of claims the FTC might find deceptive under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. And trade association certification that companies might be prone to use in their defense now must be backed by a voluntary consensus standard body.