EU Ecolabel Criteria For Exporters Tweaked

Economy

EU Ecolabel Criteria For Exporters Tweaked

A good three years after establishing the requirement for the EU Ecolabel criteria to be met by textile exporters, the European Commission has revisited the guidelines and effected amendments in them. The decision was published by the Commission recently and contains minor tweaks to criteria set up for the grant of the EU Ecolabel to textile products.

It may be recalled that the Commission had set the criteria in 2014. The criteria pertained to the manufacturers being able to adhere to the norms and restrictions set for the products and their recipes. This mainly addressed the limiting of hazardous substances that are specified in the Restricted Substances List (RSL). The presence of such substances should not exceed the limit or be below the limit as the case might be.

The decision taken by the Commission also specifies the categories of textile fibers and intermediate textile products for which the criteria are applicable. In addition, the amendment elucidates on the exceptions to the application of the criteria when it comes to recycled fibers and organic cotton fibers.

In fact, the decision is seen as an endorsement of the prolonged validity of the 2014 initiative to “maintain a stable set of criteria over a longer period of time". In effect, the present amended criteria and the requirements that emanate from such assessments will be held tenable legally for a period of six-and-a-half years from the day of adoption of the new decision.