In June 2024, Canada changed the rules for what a company can say about the environment — and the practical effect on a clean-chemistry brand is simple: you stop using adjectives and start using numbers.
What changed
Amendments to the Competition Act (via Bill C-59) require that environmental claims be backed by adequate and proper testing or recognised methodology — and they shifted more of the burden onto the company making the claim. South of the border, the U.S. FTC's Green Guides push in the same direction: vague, unsubstantiated "eco" claims are treated as deceptive.
Why we write claims as numbers with methods
Words like "green," "eco," or "natural" are exactly the kind of unsubstantiated, undefined claims the new rules target. A number with a method is not: "below 50 ppm total organic fluorine, tested by an accredited lab under [method]" is a statement that can be checked, defended, and — crucially — trusted by a buyer who has heard "green" one too many times.
The safest environmental claim is also the most persuasive one: a number, a method, a lab.
How CAGE approaches this
CAGE Innovations writes its claims as test-backed numbers against named methods, verified by blind third-party labs — because that is both the compliant way and the credible way to say a material is free of a chemistry buyers are worried about.
Sources
- Competition Bureau Canada, Competition Act environmental-claims amendments (Bill C-59, 2024).
- U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Green Guides.