Banned without recognised excellent environmental performance. The directive's own recitals name examples; these are the ones that appear most on real shops:
English: environmentally friendly, eco-friendly, eco, green, nature's friend, ecological, environmentally correct, climate friendly, gentle on the environment, carbon friendly, energy efficient, biodegradable, biobased.
German: umweltfreundlich, ökologisch, klimafreundlich, biologisch abbaubar.
French: respectueux de l'environnement, écologique, ami de la nature, biodégradable.
Italian: ecologico, rispettoso dell'ambiente, amico della natura, biodegradabile.
Spanish: ecológico, respetuoso con el medio ambiente, amigo de la naturaleza, biodegradable.
Dutch: milieuvriendelijk, ecologisch, klimaatvriendelijk, biologisch afbreekbaar.
Banned regardless of who certified the offsets:
carbon neutral, climate neutral, CO2 neutral, net zero, climate positive, carbon compensated, CO2-kompensiert, neutre en carbone, neutrale in CO2, climáticamente neutro, klimaatneutraal.
Examples by language:
English: greenest, most sustainable, 100% eco, completely green, fully sustainable.
German: umweltfreundlichste, zu 100% ökologisch.
French: le plus écologique, 100% écologique.
Italian: il più ecologico, 100% ecologico.
Spanish: el más ecológico, 100% ecológico.
Anything claiming a top or total position you cannot substantiate.
Any self-made badge, seal or icon implying certification. Recognised schemes — EU Ecolabel, Blauer Engel, Nordic Swan, FSC, PEFC, GOTS, OEKO-TEX, Cradle to Cradle, EU Organic, EN 13432 — are fine when you genuinely hold them.
recyclable, recycled content, compostable, plastic-free, organic. These are legitimate specific claims. They need to be true, scoped ("recyclable where facilities exist"), and evidenced.
This list is not exhaustive and translations are not one-to-one: inflection and compounding mean a banned idea can appear in forms not listed here. ClaimSafe EU's scanner covers eleven languages and follows your shop's published locales, but a native read of your own copy is still worth an hour.