On 21 May, the European Commission presented its strategy for strengthening the Single Market, aiming to remove longstanding barriers to trade and investment across Member States. While not legally binding, the strategy outlines a roadmap of upcoming legislative proposals that are highly relevant to the textile care labelling sector.

UKFT is the UK organisation responsible for the use of the GINETEX textile labelling symbols and can provide a care labelling licence that allows the use of the symbols throughout the world, as well as a range of textile labelling support. Read more here.

From the revision of the Textile Labelling Regulation to the wider rollout of digital labelling via the Digital Product Passport, the Commission acknowledges the urgent need to harmonise packaging, labelling and waste management rules. Current fragmentation is driving up costs, complicating compliance and placing a disproportionate burden on SMEs.

Here are some of the most pertinent developments for those involved in product labelling and compliance across the EU:

• Product labels are essential to inform consumers, but differences in national requirements complicate cross-border trade, forcing companies to adapt their products or labels for each market – thus increasing complexity and costs.
• The Commission will revise the Textile Labelling Regulation with the aim of clarifying the applicable rules, removing fragmentation, and enabling a “green premium” through a fully harmonised and comprehensive labelling framework – both in physical and digital format.
• While essential safety instruction should still be remain physically printed on products, the Commission considers digital labelling (such as QR codes) the most effective way to simplify access to product information for consumers and, in turn, reduce the compliance burden for operators.
• Digital labels will be integrated into the Digital Product Passport (DPP), which will serve as a digital repository for product-related information.

Another important element of potential relevance to GINETEX is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, which – aimed at contributing to circularity – requires producers to cover the end-of-life management costs of their products. In this regard, the European Commission recognises that:

• The lack of harmonised principles and requirements has led to a wide diversity of EPR schemes established across Member States, resulting in regulatory complexity and high administrative burdens for businesses.
• For SMEs in particular, national registration and reporting obligations – such as the requirement to appoint authorised representatives separately in each Member State where products are placed on the market – pose a significant barrier to internationalisation within Europe.
• The underdevelopment of common European criteria for end-of-waste status and the classification of by-products, which determine when a substance or object ceases to be considered waste and can be treated as a product, has contributed to the fragmentation of the Single Market for waste, secondary raw materials, and by-products.
• National or regional “end-of-waste” criteria have been adopted in an uncoordinated manner by Member States and are not easily recognised across borders.

To address these gaps, in addition to the revision of the Textile Labelling Regulation as mentioned above, the European Commission plans to launch several legislative initiatives that may be of interest to those involved in textile labelling:

• Harmonise labelling rules via sectoral legislation and facilitate rollout of digital labelling solutions via the Digital Product Passport (DPP) (progressive introduction of DPP, including possible inclusion via the New Legislative Framework review in Q2 2026)
• Remove unjustified authorised representative requirements from EPR schemes and reduce reporting obligations, including by limiting them to an annual frequency (Omnibus proposal Q4 2025)
• Address the fragmentation created by heterogenous national EPR schemes through further harmonisation, simplification and digitalisation, including through a digital one-stop shop for information, registration and reporting (as part of the legislative proposal for a Circular Economy Act – Q4 2026)
• Reform end-of-waste and by-product criteria and provide a more harmonised, leaner framework in the Single Market for reaching end-of-waste and by-product status. Ease the adoption of EU-wide end-of-waste criteria and enable the adoption of such criteria for priority waste feedstocks. Facilitate cross-border shipments of waste feedstocks for recycling (as part of the legislative proposal for a Circular Economy Act – Q4 2026)

UKFT will provide further updates as things develop.

Find out more about UKFT’s Care Labelling Licence and Support Package