Softlines & Leather regulatory updates August 2023

Europe

Revision of EU textile labelling rules

This summer, the European Commission opened a call for evidence concerning the EU textile labelling rules.

Its principal aims are to improve and ensure:

• accurate, intelligible and comparable information for consumers, notably on environmental factors;
• reduce compliance costs;
• regulatory clarity and consistency.

It will do so by introducing comprehensive requirements on the physical and digital labelling of textiles and related products.

This call for evidence is open for feedback. Input will be considered as the European Commission further develop and fine-tune this initiative. Feedback received will be published on the European Commission's website page of published initiatives here.

This call is open until 30 September 2023.

Mandatory and harmonised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles

In July 2023, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive.

In this proposal, the Commission proposes rules to make producers responsible for the full lifecycle of textile products and the development of the separate collection, sorting, reuse and recycling sector for textiles in the European Union.

The main points concerning textiles are as follows:

• Introduce mandatory and harmonised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles in all EU Member States.
• Incentives to reduce waste and increase the circularity of textile products.
• The producers' contributions will finance investments into separate collection, sorting, re-use and recycling capacities.
• Promote research and development into innovative technologies.
• Stopping illegal exports of textile waste to countries ill-equipped to manage it.
• Clarify what constitutes waste and what is considered reusable textile, to stop the practice of exported waste disguised as being for reuse.

The next step in the ordinary legislative procedure is a revision by the European Parliament and the Council.

For more information, visit the European Commission website here.

PRODUCT RECALLS / ALERTS

Below you will find a monthly summary of product recalls and alerts in Europe (Source “Safety Gate (RAPEX)”) and the U.S. (Source “CPSC”).

Europe

Safety Gate (RAPEX) (European Commission Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products – Alerts reported by EU national authorities)

The following 33 alerts regarding clothing, textiles and fashion items were reported between week 29 and 34 of 2023.

UK

OPSS issues Product Safety Alerts on the UK market.

The following 1 alert regarding clothing, textile and fashion items was reported between week 29 and 34 of 2023.

U.S.

Below you will find a monthly summary of product recalls and alerts in Europe (Source “RAPEX”) and the U.S. (Source “CPSC”)

From 27 July 2023 to 24 August 2023, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) published the following recalls: 1 recalls of textile & leather products

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