The EP Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and Council reached an agreement on a new EU regulation on textile labelling. This new deal includes the clause that on garment labels will be stated that any use of animal-derived material has been used. 

The proposal was originally purely technical. Its main objective is to simplify existing textile labelling rules and allow faster introduction of new fibres and innovative products to the market. However, during negotiations Parliament won important political concessions such as to ensure that any use of animal-derived materials will be stated on garment labels. The Council also agreed to ask the Commission to do an assessment report on a possible origin labelling scheme by 2013. The agreement will be put to the approval of the full house during the May plenary in Strasbourg.

In addition, the Council has agreed to have the Commission look further to enable consumers to check the origin of textile products manufactured outside the EU. MEPs had proposed that "made in" labels be made mandatory for them. The agreement also provides for an exemption from mandatory labelling requirements for customised textile products made up by self-employed tailors.

With regard to fur and leather, consumers will no longer risk inadvertently purchasing real these kind of products when they would prefer not to do so. Allergy sufferers would also benefit, because fur can pose a potential health hazard to them. Parliament has ensured that textiles containing such products must be labelled "non-textile parts of animal origin", to enable consumers to identify them.

MEPs also stressed the need to assess how new technologies, such as micro-chips or radio-frequency identification (RFID), could in future be used instead of traditional labels to convey information to consumers.