The European Parliament Internal Market Committee agreed on 22 March that country of origin labels should be made mandatory for textiles imported from third countries and sold in the EU. This amendment to the new draft on textile labelling, which would provide for consumers not to be misled, would be compulsory for products from third countries and voluntary for EU products.

The draft new regulation on textile labelling aims to simplify existing rules, so as to encourage the development and use of new fibres. This changes should encourage textile and clothing innovation, whilst making it easier for fibre users and consumers to benefit from innovative products. Parliament was initially asked to vote only on a technical proposal put forward by European Commission and aimed to cut the time it takes to place new fibres on the market. However, MEPs turned this into a more political one, by seeking to make country of origin labelling mandatory.

Voting on second reading, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee has reinstated most of Parliament's first-reading amendments, on indicating the country of origin, labelling of animal-derived materials and a review clause for possible new labelling requirements. These had not been taken up by the Council on its political agreement on harmonization of textile labelling reached in September 2010.

According to the Committee, a textile product will be considered as originated in an EU-country only if it underwent at least two of the following stages of manufacture: spinning, weaving, finishing or making-up.

Helping consumers to make an informed choice and putting the industry at same level than competitors

Members of the Parliament's Committee considered that the only way to ensure that consumers are not deceived by labels implying that textiles were made in the EU when they were in fact made in a third country is to make "made in" labels mandatory. Furthermore, MEPs believe that this obligation would put EU textile products at the same level that their competitors in the USA, China or Canada, where these country of origin labels are mandatory. Origin marking would facilitate consumer choice and contribute to reducing fraudulent, inaccurate or misleading claims of origin.

Furthermore, regarding animal-derived materials labelling, consumers still risk inadvertently purchasing real fur products when they would in fact prefer not to do so. Fur can also be a potential health hazard for those suffering from allergies to animal fur/hair. Mandatory fur labelling would thus enable consumers to identify products that may be damaging to their health, says the committee. Therefore, MEPs inserted a requirement to indicate the presence of non-textile parts of animal origin in textile products in the labelling or marking of these products whenever they are made available on the market.

An exemption to the application of these rules would be made for self-employed tailors who work from their own homes or run independent firms, who would not be obliged to apply these new rules to their textile products.