Textile regulations in the European Union

Already in force 19

• 2013-09-01

  EU BPR (treated articles) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 EU

  A treated article may not be placed on the market unless every active substance in the biocidal products it was treated with, or incorporates, is on the list drawn up under Article 9(2) or in Annex I for the relevant product-type and use, and any conditions or restrictions specified there are met. This is a gate on placing on the market, not a labelling duty: an antimicrobial finish whose active substance is not approved for that product-type bars the article from the market whatever the label says.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Article 58(1) limits the whole Article to treated articles that are NOT themselves biocidal products, and excludes articles whose only treatment was fumigation or disinfection of premises or containers with no expected residue. A finished textile carrying an antimicrobial or odour-control treatment sits inside that scope; the biocidal product used to apply it does not.

• 2013-09-01

  EU BPR (treated articles) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 EU

  Where the manufacturer of a treated article makes a claim about its biocidal properties, or where the conditions attached to approval of the active substance require it, the person responsible for placing the article on the market must ensure the label carries: a statement that the article incorporates biocidal products; the biocidal property claimed, where substantiated; the name of every active substance in those products; the name of any nanomaterial in them followed by the word "nano" in brackets; and any relevant instructions for use, including precautions arising from the treatment.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The trigger is the CLAIM or the approval conditions, not the treatment. A textile treated with an approved active substance and sold with no biocidal claim may carry no Article 58(3) label at all — which is why "does it say anything about odour or freshness on the swing ticket" is the question that decides this duty. The final subparagraph disapplies it where sector-specific legislation already imposes at least equivalent labelling for the same active substances.

• 2013-09-01

  EU BPR (treated articles) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 EU

  Regardless of whether the Article 58(3) labelling duty is triggered, the person responsible for placing a treated article on the market must label it with any relevant instructions for use, including precautions, where that is necessary to protect humans, animals or the environment.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  This is the duty that survives a no-claim product. It is written as a standalone obligation rather than folded into the one above precisely because paragraph 4 is expressed as operating notwithstanding paragraph 3.

• 2013-09-01

  EU BPR (treated articles) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 EU

  A supplier of a treated article must, on request from a consumer, provide information on the biocidal treatment of that article within 45 days and free of charge.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The duty falls on the supplier rather than the manufacturer, and it is unconditional — it does not depend on a claim having been made or on the Article 58(3) label being required. A brand answering a customer question about a finish is discharging this, whether or not it knows the Article exists.

• 2013-09-01

  EU BPR (treated articles) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 EU

  The labelling must be clearly visible, easily legible and appropriately durable. Where the size or function of the treated article requires it, the labelling must instead be printed on the packaging, the instructions for use or the warranty, in the official language or languages of the Member State where the article is placed on the market, unless that Member State provides otherwise.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The language duty is per Member State of introduction, so a single EU-wide label satisfies it only where every destination is covered. The Article also allows a manufacturer of articles made to a specific order rather than as a series to agree another method of giving the customer the information — relevant to contract and technical textiles rather than to retail apparel.

• 2018-04-21

  PPE Regulation Regulation (EU) 2016/425 EU

  Protective clothing must meet the essential health and safety requirements, carry CE marking, and — for Category II and III — pass a conformity assessment involving a notified body.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Article 47, quoted: "This Regulation shall apply from 21 April 2018". The category decides the burden and it is the step mills most often get wrong: Category I is self-declared, Category III — protection against mortal danger — requires a notified body for both the type examination and ongoing production surveillance. High-visibility clothing, cut protection and flame-retardant workwear are not Category I.

• 2024-12-13

  GPSR Regulation (EU) 2023/988 EU

  Consumer products not covered by sector-specific safety law must still be safe, carry traceability information, and have a responsible economic operator established in the Union.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Article 52, quoted: "It shall apply from 13 December 2024". The requirement that catches distance sellers is the responsible person inside the Union: a manufacturer outside the EU selling direct to consumers cannot place goods on the market without one, and ordinary apparel falls here because no sector-specific safety regulation covers it.

• 2025-01-01

  WFD Directive 2008/98/EC, as amended EU

  Member states to set up separate collection of textile waste.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The obligation falls on member states. National transposition determines what it means for an individual producer, and that varies by country.

• 2025-12-30

  EUDR Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 EU

  Relevant commodities and relevant products may not be placed or made available on the market, or exported, unless all three conditions are met: they are deforestation-free; they were produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; and they are covered by a due diligence statement.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Three cumulative conditions, and the third is a document rather than a property of the goods — a genuinely deforestation-free hide still fails Article 3 without a due diligence statement. The prohibition reaches EXPORT as well as placing on the market, so an EU tannery shipping out is inside it. Textiles enter through cattle: leather is a relevant product derived from a relevant commodity. Nothing in this Regulation says "textile", "fabric" or "fibre", so it will not be found by searching for the material.

• 2025-12-30

  EUDR Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 EU

  Operators must exercise due diligence in accordance with Article 8 before placing relevant products on the market or exporting them, in order to prove compliance with Article 3, and may not place them on the market or export them without prior submission of a due diligence statement.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The statement is submitted BEFORE the goods move, not compiled afterwards, which makes this a gating step in the shipping process rather than a record-keeping duty. Due diligence must prove compliance, so the burden sits with the operator rather than with an enforcement authority.

• 2025-12-30

  EUDR Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 EU

  Articles 3 to 13, 16 to 24, and 26, 31 and 32 apply from 30 December 2025. For operators that were established as micro-undertakings or small undertakings as at 31 December 2020 under Article 3(1) or (2) of Directive 2013/34/EU, those Articles apply from 30 June 2026, except as regards products covered in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 995/2010.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The deferral is keyed to what the operator WAS on 31 December 2020, not to what it is today — a business that has since grown past the small-undertaking thresholds still takes the June 2026 date, and one that has since shrunk does not. Anyone reading the unamended Regulation gets dates twelve months early.

• 2026-07-19

  ESPR Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 EU

  From 19 July 2026 the destruction of unsold consumer products listed in Annex VII is prohibited. The prohibition does not apply to micro and small enterprises, and reaches medium-sized enterprises only from 19 July 2030. Annex VII lists apparel and clothing accessories by commodity code — 4203, 61, 62, 6504 and 6505 — and footwear under 6401 to 6405.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Annex VII is a commodity-code list and the codes decide, not the word "textiles". Home textiles — bed linen, curtains, towels, CN 63 — are NOT listed, so the prohibition does not reach them. The enterprise-size staging is the other half: for a medium-sized enterprise this is a 2030 duty, and for a micro or small one it is not a duty at all.

• 2026-07-19

  ESPR Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 EU

  An economic operator not caught by the prohibition must not destroy unsold consumer products supplied to it for the purpose of circumventing that prohibition.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  This is what stops the exemptions being used as a disposal route: a small enterprise is outside the prohibition but inside this, so stock cannot be moved down the size ladder to be destroyed lawfully. The test is purpose, which makes it a question about arrangements rather than about who holds the goods.

• 2026-09-27

  Empowering Consumers Directive Directive (EU) 2024/825 EU

  Displaying a sustainability label that is not based on a certification scheme, or not established by public authorities, is prohibited.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Reaches self-declared marks and own-brand sustainability badges, which are neither certification schemes nor established by public authorities. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.

• 2026-09-27

  Empowering Consumers Directive Directive (EU) 2024/825 EU

  Making a generic environmental claim for which the trader cannot demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim is prohibited.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  A claim stops being generic when its specification is given in clear and prominent terms ON THE SAME MEDIUM. The recitals give the worked contrast: "climate-friendly packaging" is generic, while "100 % of energy used to produce this packaging comes from renewable sources" is specific and outside this point. Recital examples of generic claims include eco-friendly, green, ecological, climate friendly, carbon friendly, biodegradable and biobased. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.

• 2026-09-27

  Empowering Consumers Directive Directive (EU) 2024/825 EU

  Making an environmental claim about the entire product, or about the trader's entire business, when it concerns only a certain aspect of the product or a specific activity of the business, is prohibited.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  This is the scope-widening prohibition, and it is the one a textile supply chain trips over most naturally: an organic-cotton face fabric does not license a claim about the garment, and a certified dyehouse does not license a claim about the business. The claim must be no wider than the thing it rests on. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.

• 2026-09-27

  Empowering Consumers Directive Directive (EU) 2024/825 EU

  Claiming, based on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, is prohibited.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  The phrase "carbon neutral" appears NOWHERE in this Directive — zero occurrences. The point is written around the mechanism, not the wording: what is banned is a neutral, REDUCED or positive impact claim that rests on offsetting. So avoiding the popular phrase does not avoid the prohibition, and a reduction claim resting on measured abatement rather than offsets is not caught by it. Both errors follow from searching the text for the phrase instead of the mechanism. Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC is the list of practices considered unfair in ALL circumstances, so this needs no proof of consumer detriment and no case-by-case assessment.

• 2026-09-27

  Empowering Consumers Directive Directive (EU) 2024/825 EU

  Presenting requirements imposed by law on all products within the relevant product category on the Union market as a distinctive feature of the trader's offer is prohibited.

  Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law

  Directly relevant to textiles, where compliance is routinely marketed as virtue: "azo-free", "nickel-safe", "no restricted substances" describe obedience to REACH Annex XVII, which binds every competitor equally. Presenting that as a distinctive feature of the offer is the prohibited act.

• 2026-10-10

  EU PFHxA restriction Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462 EU

  From 10 October 2026, textiles, leather, furs and hides in clothing and related accessories for the general public, footwear for the general public, and mixtures for the general public may not be placed on the market or used at or above 25 ppb for the sum of PFHxA and its salts, or 1,000 ppb for the sum of PFHxA-related substances, measured in homogeneous material.

  Scheduled Adopted, dates set, not yet in force

  The limit is per homogeneous material, so a garment is measured layer by layer and trim by trim, not as a whole. "Mixtures for the general public" brings consumer waterproofing sprays in on the same date. Paragraph 3 exempts personal protective equipment in risk category III under Regulation (EU) 2016/425 (points (a), (c) to (f), (h) and (l) of its Annex I), medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and construction textiles. Paragraph 7 exempts articles placed on the market before 10 October 2026. No test method is named; recital 7 says standard methods are still to be developed. The scope wording is "for the general public", so products supplied only to professionals fall outside it.