The EmpCo guideline (EU) 2024/825 was adapted into the German Law Against Unfair Competition. The new terms will go into effect on September 27th, 2026. They are ment to prevent the use of disputable or deceptive environmental and sustainability statements. Sustainability signs are not allowed to give the appearance of a reliable ecological or social examination, if there is no proof or basis for it.

The so-called Green Claims Directive belongs to a similar and partially related scope. Since it's european legislative procedure has not yet ended, the GSA will be focussing on EmpCo only, for now.

EmpCo does not forbid the participation in a sustainability competition, nor does it forbid the announcement of being a finalist or winner of one such competition.

Businesses are allowed to inform others about their participation, the results from the competition, the jury decision, the award show and the specificly honored transformation achievements. They can communicate their award through their own press, on the company website, on social media, in the annual report, during recruiting as well as to their employees, business partners, investors, politics and the media.

The deciding factor is to keep communication factual, objective, understandable and limited to the actual influence of the award.

No grey zones, but a clear distinction

EmpCo does not include official rules for competitions and awards. Nor is there a strict jurisdiction for the exclusion of award signs or sustainability seals. Our classification is therefore made very carefully: much speaks for the case that a clearly named sign which only documents a concrete, timely and factual jury decision will be evaluated differently than a sustainability seal with a certificate and guarantee function.

But this distinction should not be muddled by a continued or misunderstood use of the sign itself.

We specifically do not want to exhaust the currently still open regulatory development. Therefore we depend on explicit information, clear terms of service and careful communication.

Information on the utilisation of the GSA sign

For transparent communication, the following ground rules apply:

• award status, competition, category or size class and year have to be clearly visible and recognisable
• the sign is not allowed to be used and displayed as a certificate for a product or business, as an environmental certificate or as a quality certificate
• It is not allowed to be used as proof that a business or its products are generally "sustainable", "climate neutral", "environmentally friendly", or in any other way ecologically superior 
• concrete statements about influence on the environment, climate balance, use of ressources or social properties have to be made legitimate and proven outside of the GSA award
• the award has to be clearly seperated from any other environmental or sustainability statements within open communication.

• When used on products, product packaging, product webpages or directly at the point of sale, restraint is especially necessary. It has to be clearly understandable that the award refers to the business and a specific product - not to an examination or a certificate of the product. Whether this is made clear within the communication environment depends on the depiction, placement and accompanying statements. A utilisation near products should therefore be legally examined for each individual case.
• The business which receives the award is responsible for the concrete depiction, placement and accompanying statements, which should be examined in case of any doubts.

The GSA will be providing obligatory terms of use and concrete communication guidelines. We are watching the continuing develoment of the case of law and will be adapting our rules where necessary.

Our procedure is being independently examined.

The German Sustainability Award is currently preparing an independent examination through external examiners for the allocation, rating and usage systems of our sign. In doing so, the jury will not be replaced, nor a business generally classified as "sustainable". 

The focus of the examination will be on:

• how openly available the criteria and terms and conditions are
• the understandability of the pre-examination, judgement and jury decision
• the independence of the jury
• the seperation of finances, partnerships and award decisions
• the handling of conflicts of interest, grievances and retroactive insights
• the requirements and limits for the usage of the sign
• rules for corrections, suspension or dispossession of the licence for using the sign

In doing so we strengthen transparency, understandability and independent controlls. At the same time, we prepare our system for the day it has to adhere to future and stricter lawful classifications.

Why the competition is worthwhile, independently from the sign.

The worth of the German Sustainability Award does not solely lie in its award sign. The competition ensures the visibility of concrete transformation achievements, ranks them in comparison to other businesses of similar sizes and surrounding conditions, and allows the applicants entrance into a web of relevant connections.

Finalists and winners profit from the following:

• independent acknowledgement through the jury
• benchmarking and classification through their achievements
• jury decision and recognition briefing
• professional press and social media materials
• a video portrait, certificate, trophy and graphical material
• visibility on the GSA and European Sustanability Award platforms
• participation in the #DNP26 and a possible appearance during the congress
• contact to other businesses, politics, the media and the scientific community
• acccess to the growing european network

These services remain untouched by the legislative classification of the sign. Businesses can communicate their award and the achievements behind it in a factual and influential way - even without utilising the sign near products.