Safeguarding the legal balance between competitive entrepreneurship (business) and sustainable consumption

In this article it is argued that traditional consumer policy increasingly requires transformation towards sustainability. For this purpose, consumer protection regulation must be reshaped into taking environmental needs into account rather than focusing solely on the realization of the European Union internal market, and the satisfaction of endless consumer demands. In order to bring benefits to both the economy and the environment, sustainable consumption choices have to be fostered. The authors focus on the pre-contractual stage of business-to-consumer legal relations, and argue that businesses rethink their marketing strategies and try to emphasize environment friendly aspects. Competitive advantage usually gained by offering consumers greater value by means of lower prices gradually loses its impact, and other methods such as environmental claims become more important in this sense. As advertising can be a powerful force for promoting sustainable consumption by highlighting the sustainable dimensions of goods and convincing consumers to purchase these products, the issue is raised of assuring the truth of advertising as a tool for basic consumer protection in the pre-contractual stage of business-to-consumer legal relations. The authors emphasize that consumer protection against unfair commercial practices should play a significant role in the assessment of environmental claims. The aim of this article is to examine the legal regulation on unfair commercial practices in order to find a balance between the efforts of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs to succeed in a competitive market and the protection of the interests of consumers supporting greener goals.