Textile and Care Labelling
Textile Labelling
We draw your attention to the fact that the legal interpretations given here are highly general in nature and cannot replace individual, case-orientated legal advice.
Textiles must be given a label that specifies their raw material constituents. This applies not only to products supplied to consumers but also to pre-products and intermediate products. The German Textile Labelling Act specifies detailed regulations in this regard. You can access the Law here (in German) free of charge from the German Federal Ministry of Justice website. This (national) provision relates to a recently recast European Directive (Directive 2008/121/EC from January 14, 2009).
European policy-makers are planning to replace the Directive with a Regulation (to take immediate effect), meaning that the national law will no longer be necessary. The European Commission has prepared a proposed regulation (Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on textile names and related labelling of textile products COM (2009) 31, February 10, 2009) for this purpose. The industry welcomes this initiative, since it seems generally designed to reduce bureaucracy and ensure the uniform application of legislation throughout Europe. Labelling could thus be extended to newly-developed fibres more quickly, since there would no longer be a need to implement it into the national law of Member States. You may request a brief position statement on the proposed regulation from the textile+fashion Confederation.
Within Germany, there is no obligation to specify the country of origin ("Made in ...") for textiles. However, if such a specification is made, then it must be accurate. For a while now, efforts have been made to introduce mandatory naming of this kind for textiles manufactured outside the European Union. However, a regulatory proposal has so far – and rightly –not achieved a majority vote. Presented as a consumer protection measure, under closer inspection the stipulation is in fact a foreign trade policy — and protectionist — stratagem — which we reject.
Care labelling
Most products receive a care label, on which are printed symbols from the International Association for Textile Care Labelling (Ginetex).
This topic is handled by our member association GermanFashion: www.germanfashion.net