ACTE Petition Fashion and Health

President Teo Romero and ETUF:TCL President and General Secretary, Valeria Fedeli and Patrick Itschert

The safety of products circulating within the Internal Market and the protection of consumers are key elements of the strategic objective of the European Commission that consists in improving the quality of life of all citizens of the EU. Legislative and other measures are intended to promote the interests, health and safety of consumers, to ensure consumer concerns are taken properly into account in all EU policies and to complement consumer policies conducted by Member States.

As a consequence, an increased awareness of issues related to the safety of non-food-products and the need for appropriate consumer information and education can be observed at European level. For instance, the recent adoption of the proposal for a Directive on the safety of toys aiming at introducing new and higher safety requirements, strengthening manufacturers’ and importer’ responsibility for the marketing of toys and enhancing market surveillance obligations of Member States. Scientific studies have also alerted on the health risks for European consumers arising from the presence of dangerous substances in textile, clothing, leather and footwear (TCL) products. TCL products are amongst the most frequent causes of irritating dermatitis (DIC) and allergies (DAC) for contact, and can contain annoying, toxic and carcinogenic substances prohibited by European norms and of individual Member States.

The increase in international trade flows and the progressive elimination of tariff barriers expose the TCL sectors to new risks due to the entry in trade of products whose production process is outside the control, since they often use products and processes which are no longer permitted in Europe.

On 18th September 2007, ACTE and the ETUF:TCL (European Trade Union Federation: Textiles, Clothing and Leather) launched the "Petition for a certified quality. Transparency, traceability, composition and origin of products of the TCL sectors". The main objective of this document is to raise awareness of the need to enhance the safety of TCL products and to improve consumer information.

The Petition is neither protectionist nor alarmist, since ACTE and ETUF:TCL call for reciprocity, the development of origin marking and labelling of consumer products, and a fulfilment of the European norms concerning products imported from third countries.

The high number of support declarations received over the last months from public authorities, trade unions, business organisations, consumer organisations, technology and research centres provides evidence for the rising awareness of the Petition's requests.

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Documents

Petition Fashion and Health	cat / en / es / fr / it / pl
List of accessions	en
Press Release	en / es / it

Related Studies

Toscana Moda Textile products and eco-toxicological requirements. Survey: national and international regulations, including normative requirements, voluntary brands and private labels [R.I.T.M.I Project]	it
Toscana Moda Textile products and eco-toxicological requirements. Monitoring textile products: April 2005 – November 2006 [R.I.T.M.I Project]	it
Toscana Moda Eco-toxicological requirements of textile products. Parameters – regulations – analytical methods	it
Modena, Strasburg and Turin Universities EIS-ChemRisks Report: risks and effects on human health stemming from exposition on chemicals contained in textile products	it
Regione Piemonte / Biella CNR-ISMAC Institute Results from analysis of 155 clothing products proceeding from extra-European countries, collected in retail shops of Biella area [Project Messa in Sicurezza del Prodotto Tessile]	it
Lodz Entrepreneurship & Economic Development Research Institute Assessment of obligatory tools in the area of safety of TCL products	en
FEDIT/Consejo Intertextil Español Study on the conditions of entrance of products from third countries, analysis of the compliance with the EU regulations	es
Technological Center Leitat / CIDEM Study on the compliance of Chinese textile products sold in retail shops in the Catalonia Region as to labelling, safety and health requirements (summary)	cat