The terms “sustainability”, “green”, “eco”, “eco-conscious” have become important buzzwords: they are fashionable, trendy; they make everything that comes into contact with them more attractive. Not only do a plethora of scientific articles cover the topic hallmarked by the above words, but they have also risen to the throne in the marketing communications of businesses and companies. They are used in many cases, even when the given product or service has either nothing to do with or only tangentially has a connection with the green character. The phenomenon of “greenwashing”, i.e., the case described above, when products and services are presented as environmentally friendly and green without real actions, is becoming more widespread. Today, consumers are also becoming more and more conscious; most of them demand correct information. In addition, the laws of individual countries place increasing demands on businesses, their environmental and social responsibility—so the use of green “practices” is often a means of staying on the market and surviving. The phenomenon is global. The European Union has recently adopted new legislation to prevent greenwashing, while countries are taking action against unethical corporate behaviour through their legislation and consumer protection authorities. This research aims to analyse the new EU directive and Hungarian legislation to see if there is a chance to eradicate the phenomenon completely. The research involved content analysis, as well as analysis of websites and case law. The results suggest that companies are always one step ahead and that only a unified trademark system can be the ultimate solution in the fight against greenwashing.

One of the important elements of corporate communication nowadays is to draw attention to the environmentally friendly and sustainable aspects of products and services. However, companies are profit-oriented, their goal is to win consumers and they are not afraid to get more passengers and more income by using green, often completely empty phrases. Despite the topicality of the subject, the need to examine the legal environment is indisputable. From a methodological point of view, this document presents a non-exhaustive list of the most relevant legislation and recommendations. This is also a novelty of the study, as the topic has not been examined from the legislative framework before. The purpose of our article is to present the phenomenon in the field of tourism, to shed light on the difficulties of the regulatory background of greenwashing. Many legal rules have been adopted to protect and safeguard the natural environment. In this article, we will look at some of the legal solutions and documents that attempt to serve this noble cause. All the international, EU and national standards that protect the environment are also relevant in the field of tourism. However, we will not go into these in this article. We will highlight a few standards which we believe may be of particular relevance in the context of tourism. Our selection is rather subjective, as there is no need for it to be exhaustive given the volume and complexity of the legislation, especially as all environmental elements are essential for tourism. As a result of the research, it can be concluded that despite the increasingly sophisticated regulation of the legal environment, there is evidence that companies are taking advantage of the opportunities offered by communication and consumer confidence, often through ignorance, to commit greenwashing.