WRITTEN QUESTION E-3437/02 by Winfried Menrad (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Standardisation of lingerie and underwear sizes in Europe.
Date: 2002-12-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Committee for Standardisation, European standard, clothing, consumer information, harmonisation of standards, labelling, technical barriers to trade

C 137 E/208

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

12.6.2003

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(22 January 2003)

Following the Commission’s communication of 28 April 2000 to the Member States on the guidelines for
the Urban II Community Initiative (1), the Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport published in Gazzetta
Ufficiale No 168 of 20 July 2000 a call for proposals to select the Italian cities eligible for finance under
that Initiative.

That announcement correctly reflected the eligibility criteria set out in the Commission’s communication
and also gave further details of the arrangements for evaluation and selection used by the Italian Ministry
to draw up a general merit ranking of the applications received.

In view of the funding allocated to Urban II in Italy, only the top ten cities in the ranking were eligible for
Community finance; the Italian authorities submitted the programmes for them to the Commission in
accordance with point 19 of the communication.

As a result, the Commission has no information about whether the municipality of Frosinone submitted
projects under Urban II. If it did so, the Commission has no information about why its programme did not
put Frosinone in the top ten eligible cities.

(1) COM(2000) 1100 final (cid:1) OJ C 141, 19.5.2000.

(2003/C 137 E/234)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3437/02

by Winfried Menrad (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 December 2002)

Subject: Standardisation of lingerie and underwear sizes in Europe

At present, there are at least four different systems in use in the EU for indicating lingerie and underwear
sizes. Italy, France and the United Kingdom each use their own system, while the other Member States and
most of the applicant countries apparently all use a standard sizing system. This disparity makes shopping
difficult for consumers and hampers manufacturers wishing to export their products. Labels on products
giving all four sizes are bewildering and are also very big.

With a view to the completion of the internal market, would it not be sensible to eliminate this barrier to
trade by standardising sizes? If so, how would the Commission set about attaining such harmonisation?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(7 February 2003)

The Commission does not at present foresee any initiative to standardise or harmonise lingerie and
underwear sizes and labelling in Europe.

Although the existence of different sizing systems in itself has not been recognised as a barrier to trade,
many operators in the Community clothing sector claim that a harmonised system would improve
the only way forward would be to establish voluntary
industrial competitiveness. This means that
agreements between all
importers, and consumers …) and national
authorities. However,
the Commission is not aware of any Community-wide consensus between
stakeholders and/or Member States on the matter.

interested parties (manufacturers,

The European Committee for Standardisation is currently developing work on size labelling for all kinds of
garments, and on measurement methods. These standards have not been mandated by the Commission
and are industry-led. Member States and industry will be free to apply these standards as and when they
see fit.