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The “Eco–leather” Claim: The Urgent Need for a Mandatory Labelling System for Leather Products at EU Level
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Extract
Leather is one of the most efficient, natural and renewable resource, a unique and highly versatile material which contributes to the quality of everyday life and has done so for centuries. Due to its resilience, comfort and beauty, leather has played an important role since the beginning of times in satisfying man's clothing and decorative needs. Technically speaking, leather is a fundamental output of the leather tanning industry. Tanneries recover the hides and skins that are discarded by-products of the food industry producing meat for human consumption and convert them into leather, a stable material with a wide range of applications in downstream sectors of the consumer goods industry. Footwear, garment, furniture, automotive and leather goods industries are the most important outlets for EU tanners’ production. More specifically, the footwear Directive provides a definition of “leather”, which reserves the use of the word and its synonyms to products resulting from the processing of animal remains that retain the natural structure of the fibres undamaged.
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References
1 For an overview of leather's history see: K. J. Adcock, Leather. From the Raw Material to the Finished Product, available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43377?msg=welcome_stranger (last access 20 April 2016).
2 Hides and skins are the dermal envelopes of animals obtained after flaying through the separation of the dermal tissue from the carcass. They are the principal raw materials of the tanning industry. See G. MArtignone, Manuale di pratica conciaria, Ed. Editma-Rescaldina, Milan, 1997.
3 A by-product is a substance or object resulting from a production process, the primary aim of which is not the production of that item (a production residue that is not waste). See “By-products”, European Commission, DG ENVI, at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/by_products.htm (st access 20 April 2016).
4 See “Social and Environmental Report, The European Leather Industry” 2012, p. 9. Hides and skins can also be used for as high quality raw material for gelatin and collagen production for human consumption, which have a very wide range of application in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. See “European Guidance Note on the Safe handling of Raw Hides and Skins throughout the whole value chain in the Community, April 2006”, prepared by GME, COTANCE, UECBV, Collagen Industry.
5 Directive 94/11/EC, OJ L 100, 19.4.1994, p. 37 (the “footwear Directive”).
6 More specifically, Annex I of the footwear Directive defines “leather” as a “general term for hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact, tanned to be rot-proof.” It makes it clear that “[t]he hair or wool may or may not have been removed” and that “[l]eather is also made from a hide or skin which has been split into layers or segmented either before or after tanning. The definition also specifies that the word leather cannot be used “if the tanned hide or skin is disintegrated mechanically and/or chemically into fibrous particles, small pieces or powders and then, with or without the combination of a binding agent, is made into sheets or other forms, such sheets or forms”. In addition, “[i]f the leather has a surface coating, however applied, or a glued-on finish, such surface layers must not be thicker than 0,15 mm”.
7 UNI EN 15987: 2012 is a voluntary standard developed by UNI, the Italian Organization for Standardization, which is a private nonprofit organization founded in 1921 and recognised by the EU.
8 G. Gonzalez-Quijano, “Is the leather losing its identity?”, II International Leather Engineering Congress 2011 Innovative Aspects for Leather Industry, 12–13 May 2011, Izmir, Turkey. 9 Ibidem.
10 According to the last Report of Eurobarometer “Attitudes of European Citizens Towards the Environment” (September 2014), 95% of 28.000 citizens questioned consider that protecting the environment is important to them personally. The full version of the Report is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb_special_419_400_en.htm#416 (last access 20 April 2016).
11 COTANCE, European Confederation of the Leather Industry and the Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria, the Italian tanning industry association.
12 See G. Gonzalez-Quijano, “Is the leather losing its identity?”, cit..
13 OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22 (“UCP Directive”).
14 The same may be maintained as to “bonded leather” label – sometimes also called “reconstituted leather” – since the words “bonded” and “reconstituted” suggest an idea of recycle which is not appropriate, as the bonded leather is in fact made by shredding leather scraps and leather fibre, then mixed with bonding materials.
15 Some examples are the expressions “eco-friendly”, “eco-system” and “eco-village”.
16 For a definition of “transactional decision”, see Article 2(k) of the UCP Directive.
17 According to the preliminary results of the consultation, that is the opinion of 134 respondents.
18 Parliamentary question E-003552-14.
19 SWD(2016) 163 final.
20 COM(2016) 320 final
21 See pp.106 and 107 of the guidance on the implementation/application of UCP Directive.
22 The Encyclopedia Treccani (available at: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ecopelle_%28Lessico_del_XXI_Secolo%29/-last access 20 April 2016). A similar definition is provided by G. Devoto and G. Oli, “Il Devoto-Oli Digitale 2015”, ed. Le Monnier 2015.
23 See “Study on the feasibility of a leather labelling system at European level, Matrix Insight Ltd.”, Final Report January 2013.
24 The EU Ecolabel is an example of a European voluntary standard.
25 See, for example, the British Standard BS 2780:1983 n. 159. For an overview of the voluntary schemes developed at national level, see the Final Report of the Study on the feasibility of a leather labelling system, cit., p. 36.
26 See “EU Ecolabel Work Plan for 2011-2015”, Version 1.9 of 30/07/2014 available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/documents.html, p. 30 (last access 20 April 2016).
27 Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 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, OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, p 1.
28 As acknowledged by the Commission, “[s]ome Member States, notably Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Lithuania and Spain, have introduced labelling systems for leather and leather products, however, with divergent scope and rules”, see: http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/5264 t (last access 20 April 2016).
29 The “Study on the feasibility of a leather labelling system”, cit., highlights that a similar solution has been envisaged by a Polish public authority stakeholder as well as Portuguese, Swedish and UK industry stakeholders. See p. 48 of the Study.
30 With almost 24.000 enterprises, the vast majority of which SMEs, the European leather industry employs more than 400.000 people in the EU and generates a turnover of nearly 31 billion Euros. The whole industry in the EU, including the other leather manufacturing segments (upholstered furniture, garments, car interiors, etc.) and the allied sectors (chemicals, machinery, etc), is composed of over 40,000 companies, employing over 500,000 people, with a total turnover of 50 billion Euro. See “Social and Environmental Report, The European Leather Industry” 2012, p. 9.
31 See “Social and Environmental Report”, cit., p. 10.
32 Proposal for a Regulation on consumer product safety and repealing Council Directive 87/357/EEC and Directive 2001/95/EC, COM (2013) 78 final. The proposal was put forward by the Commission on 13 February 2013, along with a proposal for a Regulation on Market Surveillance. Both proposals have been adopted at first reading by the European Parliament on 15 April 2014. The European Parliament voted at the first reading to ensure that the work done can be used as a basis for further negotiations with the Council. However, negotiations in the Council are stuck on the proposed mandatory indication of the country of origin (“made-in clause”).
33 Article 7 of the proposal (“Indication of the origin”) would oblige manufacturers and importers to ensure that either these products or their packaging or accompanying documents bear an indication of the country of origin. When this country is a Member State, the reference may be to the EU or to that particular Member State.
34 See “Study on the feasibility of a leather labelling system”, cit., p. 48.