Regulation (EU) 1007/2011

Rules on labelling textile products under the current Textile Labelling Regulation are limited to the fibre composition of textile products, which has increasingly allowed for the introduction of disparate labelling requirements across EU countries on several other labelling domains.

This has not only increased the complexity of often overlapping information conveyed to the consumer but it has also partitioned the internal market and increased compliance costs for companies.

Furthermore, new fibres are being developed, with growing complexity and speeds, and new recycling technologies are fast becoming available, requiring better fibre identification. Furthermore, only physical labels are currently foreseen, while digital labelling technologies are now readily available and affordable.

As part of its REFIT programme, the European Commission is therefore considering the introduction of a single and uniform set of rules on labelling requirements for textile and related products of the textile ecosystem in all relevant domains, including non-textile

• apparel
• clothing accessories

In light of the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, these requirements will have a particular focus on environmentally relevant information.

The review will seek to update Regulation (EU) 1007/2011 in order to

a) ensure consumers have access to all the relevant information on the textile and related products they purchase in an accurate, intelligible and comparable manner, without any misleading information;

b) while at the same time, through harmonisation at EU level, reduce compliance costs for companies and ensure regulatory clarity and consistency, in line with current legislation and forthcoming regulatory developments.

This initiative shall comprise a back-to-back evaluation of the current regulation and an impact assessment, in line with the Better Regulation Guidelines.

On 12 July 2023, the European Economic and Social Committee adopted an exploratory opinion on the revision of the Textile Labelling Regulation.

A call for evidence was published on 3 August 2023 and was open until 30 September 2023.

A public consultation was launched on 19 December 2023, running until 15 April 2024. The analysis of the input received, as well as of further data gathered, allowed us to fine-tune policy options for a potential revision of this regulation.

Subsequently, on 18 October 2024, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs (DG GROW) hosted a validation workshop with stakeholders. This workshop presented the findings and preliminary conclusions of ongoing work to review the Textile Labelling Regulation, and gathered stakeholders’ reactions to this.

These reactions are now being carefully considered in the ongoing back-to-back evaluation and impact assessment, which underpin the planned revision of this regulation by the second quarter of 2025.