Guidance Note on Anti-Greenwashing

Summary

This guidance note from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) explains that the existing Minimum Criteria for Licensing, particularly the requirement to act with Integrity and Skill, implicitly prohibits greenwashing by licensees. It applies to all persons and entities licensed under the Commission's supervisory laws, covering sectors such as funds, banking, insurance and trust services.

• Accuracy requirement: Where a licensee issues or approves a communication about a product or service, any reference to its environmental sustainability characteristics must be consistent with the product's actual characteristics.
• Fair presentation requirement: Such references must also be fair, clear and not misleading.
• Third party documents: Licensees are not directly responsible for verifying environmental sustainability claims in a prospectus or offering document prepared by an unrelated third party, but must not communicate such a document if they know, or should reasonably know, it contains incorrect or misleading information.
• Enforcement stance: The Commission treats material breaches of any aspect of the Minimum Criteria for Licensing, including this implicit anti-greenwashing duty, very seriously.

The guidance takes effect from 1 February 2026 and does not introduce new legislation, but clarifies how existing licensing criteria apply to environmental sustainability claims in marketing and offering materials.

Key obligations

• Ensure that any reference in a communication about a product or service to its environmental sustainability characteristics is consistent with the product's or service's actual environmental sustainability characteristics.
• Ensure that any such reference is fair, clear and not misleading.
• Refrain from communicating or approving for issue a third party prospectus or offering document where the licensee knows, or should reasonably be expected to know, that it contains incorrect or misleading environmental sustainability information.

Applies to

persons licensed by the Commission under its supervisory laws, funds, banking entities, insurance entities, trust service providers

Deadlines

• 1 February 2026: Effective date of the Guidance Note on Anti-Greenwashing.