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A marketing claim can be accurate and still breach the rules if the business does not hold the evidence for it. This piece sets out which claims need evidence in five jurisdictions and by when, and how a marketing team can identify claims that lack it while the copy is still in draft.
The European Union prohibits several kinds of environmental claims outright from 27 September 2026. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada each use a different instrument, and in all six the evidence supporting a green claim is expected to exist when the claim is made.
Four marketing claims, each compliant in the market it was written for, tested across lending, insurance, healthcare and real estate in six jurisdictions. No approval applied beyond its own market, and in healthcare, the format itself was lawful in some countries and prohibited in others.
The EU has no single marketing regulator, and its rules take effect by date, not by instrument. A walk through the 2026 calendar, the AI Act's Article 50, the Empowering Consumers Directive, the Digital Fairness Act and the pending Green Claims Directive, plus the sectoral rules that carry no date.
When an advertiser claims a level of proof it cannot support, the claim itself is the violation, whatever the disclosures say. What the FTC substantiation standard requires before you publish, and why pointing to a study is not the same as holding the evidence.
In a single day the ASA upheld findings in three sectors. Each firm had assumed its audience, channel, or format sat outside the rules.
S.8420A is live. Ads with AI-generated human figures that reach New York now need disclosure — and proof, asset by asset, that you complied.