Brussels – Disinfectant wipes, disinfectant creams, antiseptics in general, anti-insect products cannot contain the wording “gentle on the skin” on the label, because it can “mislead the user, minimizing risks or even denying their existence”.
These are “biocidal” products, essentially non-agricultural disinfectants fallen under the ax of the Court of Justice of the European Unionin a sentence issued at the end of a case (C-296/23) brought by a German company against a competitor.
According to Union law, the European judges rule, biocidal products “may not be advertised in such a way that the claims are misleading to the user as to the risks that such products pose to health, the environment or as to their efficacy. It is prohibited to promote a biocidal product with the formulas ‘low-risk biocidal product’, ‘non-toxic’, ‘harmless’, ‘natural’, ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘animal friendly’ or similar indications”. Effectively, just follow any first aid course, and one of the first things you are taught is to never use disinfectants in the first aid on an injured personbecause the operator cannot know of any intolerances or allergies, which also exist towards the most common disinfectants.
For the Luxembourg judges, explains a note from the Court, “a general or specific indication that minimizes the risks that such products entail may mislead the consumer as to the existence of such risks”. And this includes “any indication contained in the advertising of biocidal products that refers to said products in such a way as to mislead the user, minimizing such risks or even denying their existence”.
As regards the overused term ‘gentle on the skin’, the Court notes that such a statement “has a positive connotation which avoids the evocation of any riskso that it is suitable not only to relativize the harmful secondary effects of the product, but also to suggest that the latter may even be beneficial for the skin”.
For European justice, therefore, “such a wording is misleading, so as to justify the ban on its use in advertising the biocide”.
