Changes in European textile labelling regulations

There is to be no European requirement for warm linings in footwear to carry a description of the fibre composition.

On 8th May 2012, a new EU regulation on textile labelling comes into force. The regulation – ‘EU 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling, and marking of the fibre composition of textile products’ replaces previous directives 73/44/EEC, 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC.

Although the textile parts of footwear had been excluded, the 2008 directive gave a list of articles which should be treated in the same way as textile products – that is, they should be labelled with details of the fibre composition (such as 70 per cent polyester/30 per cent cotton). This list covers warm linings of footwear.

However, the new EU regulation no longer includes warm linings of footwear in the list of products covered and, as previously, the textile parts of footwear are specifically listed as being excluded from the regulation. This means that as of 8th May 2012, there is no longer a European requirement for warm linings used in footwear to carry a description of the fibre composition.

As this revision is a regulation rather than a directive, it will automatically have legal status in each EU Member State, without the need for each state to transpose it into national law. For example, in the UK we understand that as of 8th May this year, the ‘Textile Products (Indications of Fibre Content) Regulations 1986 SI 1986/26’ will no longer be enforced – the EU regulation will, instead, be applicable.

It is important to note that the European Footwear Labelling Directive (94/11/EC) still applies and if, under this directive, a part of the footwear is to be labelled as ‘textile’, the material must meet the definition of a textile given in the European textile labelling regulations.
 

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 2 of the March 2012 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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