Slaughter and May advised Asda on the Competition and Markets Authority’s first investigation into greenwashing

Slaughter and May advised Asda Stores Limited on the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) investigation into environmental claims made by three fashion brands, ASOS, Boohoo and George at Asda.

On 27 March 2024, the CMA announced that it had accepted voluntary undertakings from Asda, ASOS and Boohoo regarding their practices for making environmental claims to consumers. This follows the publication of the CMA’s Green Claims Code in Autumn 2021 and its investigation into environmental claims in the fashion retail sector, which began in January 2022 and was followed by an announcement in July 2022 regarding environmental claims made by ASOS, Boohoo and George at Asda.  

The CMA’s investigation, and the undertakings themselves, focus on the description and display of sustainability credentials, and the contextual information required for consumers to understand and make informed purchasing decisions based on environmental claims. Alongside its announcement of 27 March 2024, the CMA also published an open letter to the fashion retail sector setting out its intention for the undertakings to set an industry-wide standard for making environmental claims to consumers and verifying such claims through supply chain processes.

Slaughter and May advised Asda in relation to the CMA’s investigation, as well as negotiation of the undertaking with the CMA and Asda’s wider implementation and compliance programme to embed the undertaking in business processes. Slaughter and May worked closely with Asda’s in-house legal team led by Graeme Morrison, Senior Legal Director and Penelope Galpin, Senior Legal Manager.