Question 1

What is greenwashing?

Accepted Answer

Greenwashing is the practice of presenting a company's activity, a product, or a service as more environmentally friendly or more sustainable than it actually is. Although the term has no legal definition in either Polish or EU law, engaging in it can lead to significant legal consequences. Regulators most often assess greenwashing practices as actions that mislead consumers. They can, however, have effects on other levels too — for example as an act of unfair competition or a breach of rules governing mandatory disclosures. Beyond legal liability, businesses also have to reckon with financial and reputational risk.

Question 2

Is the analysis result legal advice?

Accepted Answer

No. The analysis result is not legal advice. The tool only provides a preliminary assessment of communication risk. We built it with care, but it may make mistakes. For legal advice or an individual assessment of a specific case, please contact Kałużna Legal at: r@kaluznalegal.pl.

Question 3

Which regulations is the analysis based on?

Accepted Answer

Vardic bases the analysis on local regulations, primarily the Polish Act on Counteracting Unfair Market Practices, which prohibits misleading consumers about a product's environmental characteristics. At EU level, Directive 2005/29/EC (UCPD) and the amending Directive 2024/825 (Empowering Consumers) provide the foundation. Vardic also takes into account explanatory and interpretive documents published during work on these regulations, including the European Commission's "Answers to frequently asked questions", which clarifies how the new EmpCo Directive requirements apply.

Question 4

How does the credit system work?

Accepted Answer

A single credit allows a full analysis of text up to 1,000 characters excluding spaces. For longer messages, the system automatically draws the appropriate number of units, and if you plan to regularly check very long content, we will prepare an individual quote tailored to your business needs.

Question 5

Who is Vardic for?

Accepted Answer

Vardic helps businesses that want to systematically identify and reduce the risk of greenwashing in their communications. This risk can arise in any industry where businesses communicate about environmental impact, climate goals, or the characteristics of their products and services. Vardic analyzes messaging in the context of the business, its industry, and the nature of the message, so businesses can run responsible, regulation-compliant marketing communication.

Question 6

Is my content confidential?

Accepted Answer

Vardic analyzes publicly available communications and marketing materials. We process the content you submit in line with GDPR and send it to the AI model only to analyze it for greenwashing. Your data is not used to train models. We retain results for 90 days by default, and a human always reviews them. Need a setup where your data never leaves your own infrastructure? Contact your company's system administrator about an on-premises configuration. See our Privacy policy for details.

Question 7

What happens when I run out of credits?

Accepted Answer

Once you use up your available units, we'll notify you that your account is out of credits and pause verification of new messages until you top up again. You can buy an additional credit package at any time in the user panel to immediately resume auditing your marketing materials.

Question 8

Will I receive a VAT invoice?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we fully support Polish VAT invoices. We use the secure Stripe payment system. To receive an invoice, enter your full company details and NIP (tax ID) in the Stripe form during checkout. The invoice is generated automatically and emailed to you within a few minutes of a successful payment.

A knowledge base on ESG compliance and greenwashing