Four legislative processes shaping producer responsibility for textiles and footwear
Several legislative processes are currently running in parallel, each of which may influence how EPR for textiles and footwear takes shape in practice.
Tekstilretur provides a brief overview of what we consider the most significant, and how they may affect producer responsibility for textiles and footwear.
Omnibus is an EU term covering a set of initiatives aimed at simplifying the administrative requirements of EU legislation, thereby making European businesses more competitive.
The background is that sustainability reporting requirements for companies proved too burdensome.
Although the EU Waste Framework Directive has been adopted with the concrete framework for EPR for textile and footwear, changes may still arise from the Omnibus process.
One area under review is the rules on authorised representatives, which the EU is seeking to simplify across member states.
Drawing on the EU's Single Market Strategy 2025, work is currently underway to develop a so-called One Stop Shop for EPR.
The aim is to build a digital system enabling producers to register and report producer responsibility data across all countries in a single unified system. This work is also connected to a broader ambition to simplify producer responsibility, rooted in the Circular Economy Act.
The goal is to make it easier for producers to comply with EPR requirements, reduce administrative burdens, and minimise the number of free-riders.
However, development is still at a very early stage, with discussions ongoing at the European Commission on the overall framework.
It is therefore our assessment that the system will not be ready by the time EPR for textiles and footwear is implemented in 2028.
The Ecodesign Regulation is framework legislation, and we are therefore awaiting more concrete measures in the form of delegated acts that will have a direct bearing on EPR for textiles and footwear.
We are currently awaiting the so-called 4th and final milestone, which will form the basis for a delegated act expected in 2027.
This act will be the starting point for EU member states when developing environmental fee differentiation under EPR for textiles and footwear.
Based on the content of the 3rd milestone, environmental differentiation is expected to include requirements relating to the lifespan of textiles, their recyclability, and whether they contain recycled material.
The rules on the Digital Product Passport also derive from the Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR).
The Digital Product Passport requires producers to collect and retain data on their textile products. In practice, this has significant implications for how you as a producer work with your value chain and what data requirements are placed on suppliers.
The interface between the Digital Product Passport and producer responsibility will primarily be in the area of environmental fee differentiation. We expect that data from the Digital Product Passport will be usable as documentation for the environmental differentiation category under which you as producers have reported your data in connection with producer responsibility data requirements.
As a producer responsibility organisation, Tekstilretur is required to carry out spot checks on our members and ensure that you hold the necessary documentation.
At Tekstilretur, we will work to ensure that you can, as far as possible, use documentation you already hold from the Digital Product Passport, so that demonstrating compliance with environmental differentiation does not create unnecessary additional administrative burden.