New regulations for strict fiber labeling in the EU

The European Union publishes European Commission Regulation (EU) No 286/2012, Revision Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011. The regulations cover the names of textile fibers and the labels and markings of textile fibers.

The amended regulation incorporates a new fibre name polypropylene/polyamide bicomponent (polypropylene/polyamide composite fiber) into Annex I of the Regulations and defines in Annexes VIII and IX a unified test method for this new fiber. After the polypropylene/polyamide composite fiber is included in Annex I as the new fiber name, in the EU countries, the label and mark of the textile product must use this name to describe the fiber component.

Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 is about the name of textile fibers and the labeling and marking of textile components. It is indispensable for the protection of consumer rights. It regulates textile products (including textile fibers with a weight percentage of at least 80%). And textiles included in other products as an integral part of the relevant products are all covered by regulations and must be affixed with labels, tags or related commercial documents when sold in the EU market.

Textiles that meet the specifications set out in the 2009 Textile Directive and placed on the EU market before May 8, 2012 are still available for sale on the EU market until November 9, 2014.

In recent years, the fiber component label has gradually become the focus of the European Union, the United States and other countries to set technical trade measures on China’s garment exports. The United States, Japan, the European Union and other countries and regions have successively promulgated technical regulations and standards concerning the labeling of fiber components, such as the EU Directive 2008/121/EC, which stipulates strictly the names of textile fibers, textile labels, and other marks. Requirements, such as the name of the textile, the content of the fiber component and the label, the inconspicuous or illegible label font, the manufacturer's name and information not clearly listed in the relevant documents, will be listed as unqualified products. , but also made specific requirements for labeling of ingredients and allowable deviation of fiber content, stipulating that textile products composed of only one fiber can use “100%”, “pure” and “full” labels.

However, China's relevant export clothing enterprises have not paid enough attention to the label. Inspection and quarantine departments are also not optimistic about the results of random checks on labels in daily inspection and supervision. The incidents of returning goods and claims due to unqualified export clothing labels often occur. The EU is one of the largest importers of textile exports in the city, among which the Chuzhou region is also the focus of textile and clothing exports to Europe. According to statistics, during the year of 2011, the Quzhou Inspection and Quarantine Bureau examined 42,091 batches of export garments with a value of 916 million U.S. dollars, 40% of which was exported to the European Union. The inspection and quarantine department reminds relevant apparel export production enterprises to seriously interpret the international technical regulations and standards for labeling of fiber components and use the terms and names specified in the standards. At the same time, according to the requirements of the standards, according to the requirements of exporting countries, regulate the identification of exported clothing components, correctly mark the content and type of fiber, and the ratio of fiber components and content must be in line with the physical substance to avoid trade risks.