EU Legislation Labelling of Textile Products - Including Garments

8/10/2019 EU Legislation Labelling of Textile Products - Including Garments

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EU legislation: Labelling of textileproducts (including garments)

IntroductionIf you export textile products intended to be sold

on the EU market (for production or at the retail

stage), you have to make sure your products are

labelled according to EU requirements. The

requirements enable that all EU consumers can

gain adequate and equal information about

textile products they buy. As such, the main

requirements relate to an indication of the fibre

composition using prescribed fibre names. Textile products that are not properly labelled,cannot be marketed in the EU.

What are textile products?

raw, semi-worked or made up products exclusively composed of textile fibres, or

products containing at least 80% by weight of textile fibres

the textile parts of carpets, mattresses, camping goods, furniture, umbrellas,

sunshades, warm linings of footwear, gloves and mittens provided they contain

at least 80% textile fibres

textiles forming a part of other products where the textile parts are specified

Outline of the legislation

Directive 2008/121/EC lays down the requirements on the names to be used todescribe textile fibres, as well as the requirements on how to label the products.

In any case, the requirements do not apply to textile products which:

under customs control enter the EU for transit purposes.

are imported to the EU from third countries to be processed for re-export.

are contracted out to persons working in their own homes or to independent firms

that make up work from materials supplied, without the property being transferred

for consideration.

Names to be usedOnly the following names are allowed to be used to describe the fibre content of your

textile products.

Wool, alpaca, llama, camel, kashmir, mohair, angora, vicua, yak, guanaco,

cashgora, beaver, otter, followed or not by the name wool or hair

Animal or horsehair, with or without an indication of the kind of animal

Silk, cotton, kapok, flax, hemp, jute, abaca, alfa and coir

Broom, ramie, sisal, sunn, henequen, maguey, polyurethane, vinylal, trivinyl,

elastodiene, elastane and glass fibre

Acetate, alginate, cupro, modal, protein, triacetate and viscose

Acrylic, chlorofibre, fluorofibre, modacrylic, polyamide or nylon, aramid,

polyimide, lyocell, polylactide, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene,

polycarbamide, elastolefin, elastomulltiester and melamine

In the case of wool products, the terms virgin wool or fleece wool (as outlined in Article 5of the Directive) may be used.


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EU legislation: Labelling of textile products (including garments)

Annex I of Directive 2008/121/EC lists the aforementioned fibre names and provides

descriptions for each one of them. The list is regularly updated as new technologies lead to

the production of new fibres. Listed names may not be used to describe other fibres. If you

use a fibre in your textile products with a name that does not appear on the list, it is best to

contact your EU buyer for advice.

LabellingTextile products must be labelled to show the fibre content. The labelling requirements are

as follows:

All textile products must carry a label which indicates the fibre content on the

product or on the packaging of the product. The label does not have to be

permanently attached to the product. It may be removable. If the product is notsold at the retail stage, the particulars may be indicated in the accompanying

documents (e.g. invoice).

If a product consists of two or more components with different fibre contents

(e.g. a jacket with a lining), the content of each must be mentioned. Except when

the components represent less than 30% of the product (excluding linings).

A textile product consisting of two or more fibres of which one accounts for at

least 85%of the product, must be marked:

o by the name of the fibre followed by its percentage,

o by the name of the fibre followed by the words 85% minimum, or

o by the names of allfibres with their related composition percentages.

A textile product consisting of two or more fibreswhich in total account for at

least 85%of the product must be marked with the fibre followed by the

percentage in descending order (see for an example below).

However, fibres that separately account for less than 10% may be collectively designated by

the words other fibres followed by the total percentage, or by their name followed by the

particular percentage.

The term mixed fibres or unspecified textile composition can be used for a

product whose composition is difficult to be stated at the time of manufacture. Textile products having a pure cotton warp and a pure flax weft, in which the

percentage of flax is at least 40%, may be given the name cotton linen union

followed by the composition specification pure cotton warp - pure flax weft.

The fibre content of purely decorative items that make up 7% or lessof the

product does not have to be indicated.

The word silk cannot be used to describe the texture of other textile fibres.

The words pure, all or 100% can only be used when a textile product is made

up of only one fibre. Other terms are not allowed.1

When products are offered at the retail state, EU Member States may require to

have the products labelled in the national language(s). Refer to your EU buyer for

more information.

1A tolerance level of 2% of other fibres applies (technical impurity). For textile products which have

undergone a carding process, the tolerance level is 5%.

Correct Incorrect70% Cotton

30% Polyester

30% Linen

70% Polyester


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Where two or more textile products have the same composition and form a singleunit, they only need to bear one label.

Exemptions:

Annex III:List of products which do not have to be labelled. Examples are:

artificial flowers, containers, felt, hand-embroidered tapestries, toys, travel

goods, textile parts of footwear (with the exception of warm linings), protection

articles and sails.

For more information on the labelling of footwear or protective equipment, refer to the

related documents.

Annex IV:List of products which do not have be labelled individually. The fibrecontent can be labelled on the container. Examples are: floor cloths, clean

clothes, handkerchiefs and ties.

Future legislative developments: Sizing, care labelling and country of origin

The aforementioned requirements are the present labelling requirements when exporting

to the EU. However, as exporter to the EU, you also have to be aware of developments that

may result in legislation in the near future. Ignorance of the labelling requirements can

result in substantial fines or affect your trade to the EU in other ways.

Sizing

The sizing of clothes sold on the EU market tend to vary

from country to country and even from store to store.

This can be very confusing and therefore the textile

industry in the EU is urging the European Commission

(EC) to lay down legislation on standard sizing. At the

moment the situation is precarious and it is not sure if

or when the EC starts discussions on the matter. As

long there is no legislation on the matter, it is

recommended to use three European standards on clothes sizing which aim to establish a

common sizing system:

EN 13402-1:2001: Size designation of clothes Part 1: Terms, definitions and body

measurement procedures (ISO 3635:1981 modified)

EN 13402-2:2002: Size designation of clothes Part 2: Primary and secondary

dimensions

EN 13402-3:2001: Size designation of clothes Part 3: Measurements and intervals

Although these standards are voluntary, they can be required by your EU buyer or

commonly used in the market segment you are interested in.

For informationon the standards, use the search standards function on the website of

the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) in the external links

section. For information on size marking and labelling of household

and furnishing textiles, refer to the related document.

Care labelling

There is no EU-wide obligation to show instructions on how to wash and

maintain textile products. However, many EU retailers voluntarily use

care symbols instead of words. In any case, if care instructions or symbols

are shown, they must be accurate. It is generally accepted that adequatecare instructions must include information on the following:


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general care and warnings

washing

drying

ironing

dry-cleaning

As long as there is no uniform EU legislation on the matter, it is recommended to use the

following European/international standard:

EN ISO 3758:2005: Textiles Care labelling code using symbols (ISO 3758:2005)

For more information on care labelling standards, refer to the website of CEN or

GINETEX in the external links section.

Country of Origin (Made in label)

At the moment, there are no legal requirements for producers of

textile products to show the country of origin on the label. This means

that you are not obliged to state the country where your textile

products are made. However, developments on the issue are expected

in the near future. The issue is brought to the attention of the EC and

one EU Member State (Greece) has even laid down national legislation

that requires country of origin labelling. As long as there is no EU-

wide legislation, it is left to the individual EU Member States to adopt

national requirements. Refer to the competent authorities of the perceived EU Member

State(s) for national requirements.

For more information on the national competent authorities, refer to the Member

States overview in the related document section.

Beyond the minimum requirementsThis document has been set up to inform you about the EU legislation. While the EU

legislation lays down some minimum requirements, there is nothing to prevent additional

information being given on the labels of textile products, as along as it is accurate. Please

note that EU buyers/retailers can apply their own criteria.

Furthermore, you can choose to obtain private certification such as Fairtrade or Eco-

label. Textile products marked/labelled as such meet standards set by organisations that

focus on specific qualities (such as environmental friendly or social accountability). Theseorganisations certify that the producer and/or products meet the specific quality they stand

for. An increasing number of EU buyers include (parts of) the criteria of these organisations

in their own buying criteria. Therefore, obtaining a certificate can give you competitive

advantage when exporting to the EU.

For more information on EU buyers requirements and certification for your products,

refer to the related documents.

Testing

European legislation on labelling of textile products is closely related to Directive 96/73/EC.

It specifies the methods of analysis to be used to check whether the composition of textile

fibre mixtures is in conformity with the information supplied in the label. Note that your

EU buyer will require that the materials delivered to him are tested according to Europeanstandards. Some EU buyers have more confidence in test reports from European-based


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institutes. Having European test reports can therefore be an advantage when competingwith other exporters. Naturally, testing by European institutes can be more expensive. It is

therefore important to verify the EU demands on testing for your products.

For information on Directive 96/73/EC, refer to the external links section.

Last updated: March 2010

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EU Legislation Labelling of Textile Products - Including Garments