REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
Date: 2015-12-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
Subjects: delegated legislation, delegated regulation, labelling, powers of the institutions (EU), product designation, single market, textile product

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.12.2015  COM(2015) 657 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission 
pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking 
of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC 
and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council 

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1. Introduction 

Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on textile fibre names 
and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products1 was adopted in order to 
eliminate potential obstacles to the proper functioning of the internal market and to provide consumers 
with adequate and relevant information on textile fibre composition. Its purpose was also to introduce 
more flexibility in view of adding new fibre names and adapting legislation in line with the technical 
developments in the sector.  

Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts with respect to:  

  Adoption  of  technical  criteria  and  procedural  rules  for  the  application  of  Article  20(5) 
concerning the tolerances for the presence of extraneous fibres in the fibre composition;  
  Amendments to Annexes II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX in order to take account of technical 

progress; 

  Amendments to Annex I in order to include, pursuant to Article 6, new textile fibre names in 

the list set out in that Annex.  

2. Legal basis 

This report is required under Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011. Pursuant to this provision, 
the power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission for a period  of five years from  7 
November  2011  and  the  Commission  is  required  to draw  up  a  report  in  respect  of  the  delegation  of 
power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period, thus before 7 February 2016.  

3. Exercise of the delegation 

In  accordance  with  Article  22,  the  empowerment  has  been  used  to  adopt  Commission  Delegated 
Regulation  (EU)  No  286/20122.  On  the  basis  of  that  Regulation,  the  new  textile  fibre  generic  name 
'polypropylene/polyamide  biocomponent'  has  been  added  to  the  list  of  textile  fibre  names  set  out  in 
Annexes I and IX of Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011. In addition, uniform test methods for the new 
textile  fibre  have  been  defined.  Consequently,  Annexes  I,  VIII  and  IX  to  Regulation  (EU)  No 
1007/2011 have been amended.  The recognition of this new generic name at the EU level allowed the 
textile  industry  to  obtain  benefits  from  manufacturing  textile  products  which  use  the  new  fibre  and 
having it widely known and marketed. At the same time, consumers obtained the reassurance that the 
recognised  fibre  meets  certain  specified  characteristics  and  that  the  textile  products  may  be  more 
clearly  labelled  or  marked.  Moreover,  market  surveillance  authorities  got  the  necessary  information 
for  testing  textile  products  to  verify  whether  textile  products  contain  or  not  the  new  fibre  in  their 
composition. 

The  parties  consulted  on  the  draft  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  included  experts  from  the 
Member States, industry and other stakeholders. The Commission adopted the Commission Delegated  
Regulation  on  27  January  2012  and  notified  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council.  Neither  the 

1 Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile 
fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products (OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, 
p.1).  

2 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 286/2012 of 27 January 2012 amending, in order to include a new 
textile fibre name, Annex I and, for the purposes of their adaptation to technical progress, Annexes VIII, and IX 
to  Regulation  (EU)  No  1007/2011  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  textile  fibre  names  and 
related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products (OJ L 95, 31.3.2012, p. 1). 

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European Parliament nor the Council issued any objection to the delegated act within the two-month 
period. The delegated act was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 31 March 
2012 and entered into force on 20 April 2012, with applicability from 8 May 2012.  

Currently,  the  Commission  is  analysing  a  new  request  submitted  in  January  2014  for  the  proposed 
generic name of ‘polyacrylate’. The procedure is ongoing and a final decision whether or not to adopt 
a delegated act is expected in 2016.  

The  empowerment  has  not  been  used  to  date  as  regards  the  adoption  of  technical  criteria  and 
procedural rules for the application of Article 20(5) since no relevant request for higher manufacturing 
tolerances  was  submitted  to  the  Commission  at  the  time  of  writing  this  report.  Considering  the 
technical  progress  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Regulation,  the  manufacturing  tolerances  were 
laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 20 at levels that allow manufacturers to accurately label or 
mark the fibre composition of textile products. It may however occur that new production processes, 
novel textile fibres and innovative textile products, especially containing recycled or blends of textile 
fibres, would require different manufacturing tolerances. The authorisation for higher tolerances may 
only be granted in exceptional and adequately justified cases. 

4. Conclusion 

With  this  report  the  Commission  complies  with  the  reporting  obligation of Article  22  of  Regulation 
(EU) No 1007/2011.  

The Commission has exercised its delegated power correctly and in a timely manner to ensure that the 
new textile fibre generic name was added to the list of fibre names.  

Going  forward,  the  Commission  considers  that  the  delegation  of  power  should  be  retained.  This  is 
necessary  in  order  to  ensure  that  the  objectives  and  the  proper  functioning  of  Regulation  (EU)  No 
1007/2011 are met.   

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report.    

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