EU: Textile labelling rules (revision)

 

The EU Commission has announced that its planned revision of the textile labelling rules will be adopted in the first quarter of 2025.

The EU’s strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to mitigate the significant environmental impact of textile production and consumption. According to the strategy, private household textile consumption in the EU ranks fourth in terms of negative environmental and climate change impacts, and third for water and land use on a global life cycle scale.

Meanwhile, the textiles sector’s competitiveness and recovery are being hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To address the environmental impact of textiles, the Strategy proposes various legislative and non-legislative measures, including a review of the Textile Labelling Regulation. The Commission plans to consider a uniform set of labelling rules for textile products and related items such as leather and fur products, clothing accessories, and household goods, excluding footwear, which is regulated by Directive 94/11/EC.

This review will be closely aligned with recent legislative proposals, such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and its Digital Product Passport, the amendment of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) on textile waste, and the Empowering Consumers Directive. Additionally, synergies will be sought with the new General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the Organic Production Regulation (EU) 2018/848, and the proposed directive on corporate sustainability due diligence.

Three primary issues have been identified as interconnected problems related to the labelling of textile products and similar items:

• The fragmentation of the single market
• The lack or insufficiency of consumer information
• The environmental (including climate) sustainability of the textiles sector

Without harmonised labelling rules for aspects beyond fibre composition, disparate regulations have arisen across Member States, increasing compliance costs for companies. Along with inconsistent industry practices, this fragmentation leads to consumer confusion and inadequate information, hindering their ability to make informed decisions about product characteristics, purchase choices, and responsible usage.

These regulatory and market shortcomings are further exacerbated by increasing environmental concerns among Member States, industry, and consumers. They are attempting, in a disjointed manner, to accurately convey environmental information about textile products to consumers.

For the above reasons, the Textile Labelling Regulation is necessary.

To find out more about textile compliance and textile labelling in the EU and worldwide, please contact the Product Compliance Institute directly.