OPINION OF THE COMMISSIONpursuant to Article 294(7)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,on the European Parliament's amendment[s]to the Council's position regarding the proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCILon textile names and related labelling of textile products
Date: 2011-07-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer information, labelling, man-made fibre, product designation

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 8.7.2011 
COM(2011) 423 final 

2009/0006 (COD) 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 

pursuant to Article 294(7)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
on the European Parliament's amendment[s] 
to the Council's position regarding the  
proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on textile names and related labelling of textile products 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
2009/0006 (COD) 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 

pursuant to Article 294(7)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 
on the European Parliament's amendment[s] 
to the Council's position regarding the  
proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on textile names and related labelling of textile products 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Article  294(7)(c)  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  provides  that  the 
Commission  is  to  deliver  an  opinion  on  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  European 
Parliament at second reading. The Commission sets out its opinion below on the amendments 
proposed by the Parliament.  

2. 

BACKGROUND 

Date on which the proposal was sent to Parliament and the Council: 

30 January 2009  

Date of Parliament's opinion at first reading: 

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee: 

Date of adoption of the Council position: 

18 May 2010 

16 December 2009 

6 December 2010 

Date of COREPER agreement on the second reading compromise: 

20 April 2011 

Date of Parliament's opinion at second reading: 

11 May 2011 

3. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION  

The  proposal  from  the  Commission  was  adopted  in  the  context  of  the  Better  Regulation 
initiative.  The  aim  of  the  proposal  is  to  simplify  and  improve  the  existing  regulatory 
framework for the labelling of textile products with a view to encourage the development and 
uptake of new fibres as well as innovation in the textile and clothing sector. In order to attain 
this overall objective, the proposal aims at: 

•  Facilitating  the  legislative  process  to  adapt  legislation  to  technical  progress  by 
transforming the three existing Directives into a single Regulation, which would 
avoid transposition of merely technical updates; 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
 
 
•  Shortening the time between the submission of an application and the adoption of 

a new fibre name. 

4. 

OPINION  OF  THE  COMMISSION  ON  THE  AMENDMENTS  BY  THE  EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

The  European  Parliament’s  opinion  at  second  reading  of  11  May  2011  is  a  balanced 
compromise,  making  a  limited  number  of  amendments  to  the  Council's  position  in  order  to 
make more information available for consumers in respect to the presence of non-textile parts 
of animal origin and the full composition of textile products. A comprehensive review clause 
invites  the  Commission  to  examine  further  harmonisation  of  labelling  of  textile  products, 
including an origin labelling scheme. The compromise text is in line with the overall purpose 
of the proposal. 

The Parliament's position is a result of a compromise obtained at a trialogue held on 12 April 
2011 and which was approved on 20 April 2011 in Council.  

5. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  accepts  the  amendments  voted  by  the  European  Parliament  in  second 
reading according to the above described compromise text of the Council and the European 
Parliament. 

EN 

3 

   EN