A claim regarding an insignificant benefit that does not stem from any specific characteristic of the product or the company is considered misleading.
For example, it is irrelevant to state that bottled water is “gluten-free” because water is naturally gluten-free, which means that all bottled waters share this characteristic. Therefore, “gluten-free” constitutes an irrelevant claim that does not stem from any specific characteristic of the product and is common to all bottled waters.
Another example: it is irrelevant to state that a product has a reduced water footprint if all products in that category have one by default (due to technical and industry-specific characteristics) and life-cycle assessments show that the “water footprint” impact category is not relevant in that product category.
Conversely, advertising a benefit shared by most products in a category is not automatically misleading if that benefit is actually relevant to the specific product and to the consumer. For example, the claim “nickel-free” in reference to jewelry is permitted because it represents a significant product characteristic for people with allergies.
Last modified on 25/09/2026