Compliance
Textile compliance, explained: the EU rules that touch a fashion brand.
The EU rules that reach a fashion brand's garments and its books, from the fibre label that already applies to the passport still being written. One guide per rule: what it asks, who it reaches, the date, and the product data that answers it.
Regulatory dates last reviewed October 2026.
In short
What textile compliance covers
Textile compliance in the EU is three layers of rules. The first sits on the garment itself: the fibre names on the label, the chemical duties under REACH, the packaging it ships in, the environmental claims printed beside it, its environmental footprint, and the Digital Product Passport that will gather most of this on one scannable record once the textile delegated act is adopted, expected in 2027.
The second layer is producer responsibility: textile registration with a national scheme in every country where a brand places garments on the market, then a periodic report of the weight and composition sold, with fees modulated on durability and recyclability. Every EU country must have a national textile EPR scheme running by April 2028, and separate textile collection already applies. The textile EPR guide has the country-by-country picture.
The third layer reaches the business rather than the product: the ban on destroying unsold clothing, the forced labour ban, and the corporate reporting and due diligence rules that most independent brands meet as data requests from larger buyers, answered in the voluntary SME standard. Every layer asks for the same product data: composition by weight, origin, substances, packaging and care.
The guides
One rule per guide
Product level
Rules that sit on the garment
A field, a label, a fee or a disclosure attached to what you sell. The passport carries the data these rules ask for.
- UpcomingDirect passport link
The Digital Product Passport for textiles
ESPR is in force as the framework; the textile delegated act will fix the fields, the products and the date.
The passport is the obligation itself: every field the act names is a field on this record.
Delegated act expected in 2027. Compliance realistically from 2028 to 2029.
Read the guide - In forceDirect passport link
Textile producer responsibility in the EU
Adopted law with a clock on it: national schemes must run by a fixed date, fees will depend on what you make.
Fees rest on the weight and composition the passport already states per garment.
In force October 2025. Schemes running by April 2028. Micro-enterprises April 2029.
Read the guide - In forceDirect passport link
Packaging rules for fashion (PPWR)
Polybags, hang tags, tissue and cartons are packaging. The regulation applies, and the national packaging fees that preceded it still do.
Packaging components, materials and weights sit on the same record as the garment.
In force February 2025. Applies since August 2026. Harmonised labels August 2028. Recyclability, recycled-content and empty-space rules from 2030.
Read the guide - In forceDirect passport link
Fibre names and the textile label
Current law since May 2012, widely violated, and under revision with digital labelling among the options.
The fibre composition on the label and in the passport must be the same data.
In force since May 2012. Revision in preparation.
Read the guide - In forceDirect passport link
Environmental claims on garments and in marketing
Generic claims, offset-based neutrality claims and self-made eco labels are banned unless substantiated.
A specific claim has to point at verifiable product data, and the passport is where it lives.
Applies in every Member State since September 2026. The separate Green Claims Directive proposal was withdrawn in June 2025.
Read the guide - In forceDirect passport link
Substances of concern in garments
Chemical duties that already apply under REACH, and the wider substance disclosure the passport is expected to add.
The passport is the proposed disclosure channel for substances a recycler must know about.
REACH duties apply now; SCIP notification since January 2021. Passport disclosure follows the delegated act, expected in 2027.
Read the guide - VoluntaryDirect passport link
The environmental footprint of a garment
The EU method for scoring a garment is approved and voluntary, France displays an environmental cost, and the passport is expected to carry a footprint class.
A footprint class is proposed as a passport field; its inputs are the record's composition, weights and origin.
PEFCR for apparel and footwear approved June 2025. French environmental cost display since October 2025, voluntary. A passport footprint class follows the delegated act, expected in 2027.
Read the guide
Company level
Rules the business reports and proves
What the company states and must be able to show. None of these creates a passport field; the passport is where their claims meet product data.
- In forceIndirect passport link
The ban on destroying unsold clothing
Large companies may no longer destroy unsold apparel, footwear and accessories, and must disclose what they discard.
A passport per size turns the end-of-season count the ban asks for into a filter.
Large enterprises since July 2026. Medium enterprises from July 2030. Small and micro enterprises exempt.
Read the guide - UpcomingIndirect passport link
The ban on products made with forced labour
Any product made with forced labour, at any tier, may not be sold in or exported from the EU. Every operator, no size threshold, enforced by investigation.
The origin and facility identifiers a passport carries are what an authority holds against its risk database.
In force since December 2024. Applies from December 2027. Commission guidelines June 2026; national penalty rules by December 2026.
Read the guide - In forceIndirect passport link
Corporate reporting and due diligence (CSRD and CSDDD)
Reporting and due diligence duties for the largest companies. Most independent brands are out of scope and meet the rules as data requests from in-scope buyers.
Company statements can be tested against the countries, facilities and materials the passports show.
Omnibus I in force March 2026. CSRD reporting for companies with more than 1,000 employees and 450 million EUR in net turnover from the financial year 2027. CSDDD applies from July 2029.
Read the guide - VoluntaryIndirect passport link
The voluntary sustainability standard for SMEs (VSME)
The EU-endorsed standard a smaller company can report with, and the ceiling for what larger buyers may ask of it.
What a brand reports in VSME can be compared with the suppliers and origins its passports show.
Recommended by the Commission in July 2025. A delegated act for the value-chain cap standard was adopted in July 2026, subject to scrutiny. Voluntary.
Read the guide
ESPR
ESPR, in plain language.
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation entered into force in July 2024. It is the legal backbone of the Digital Product Passport, but it is a framework: the textile-specific requirements are set separately, in a delegated act expected in 2027, and apply 18 months after it enters into force, which is why compliance is realistically from 2028 to 2029.
Until the delegated act is adopted, nobody can sell you compliance. What you can do is structure the data every version of the rules will ask for: composition, weights, origin, substances and care.
Read the Passport GuideThe timeline
Where the rules stand
Every milestone below, with its status. Dates for future milestones are expectations, not law.
ESPR in forceDone
The EU Ecodesign Regulation entered into force, the legal basis for Digital Product Passports.
Reg. (EU) 2024/1781Separate textile collectionDone
EU countries collect textile waste separately, the first step of the wider producer responsibility framework.
Waste Framework DirectiveFirst ESPR working planDone
The Commission adopted its first ESPR working plan, scheduling which product groups get passport requirements first.
ESPR Working Plan 2025-2030Textile EPR adoptedDone
The revised Waste Framework Directive entered into force, making producer responsibility for textiles mandatory in every EU country.
Directive (EU) 2025/1892Unsold clothing destruction banDone
Large enterprises may no longer destroy unsold apparel, footwear and accessories, and must disclose each year what they discard.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Article 25Packaging regulation appliesDone
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation applies to every polybag, hang tag and carton; harmonised labels and the recycled-content targets follow on their own dates.
Regulation (EU) 2025/40Green claims rules applyDone
Generic environmental claims, offset-based neutrality claims and unverified sustainability labels are banned practices in every Member State.
Directive (EU) 2024/825Textile labelling revisionUpcoming
The Commission is revising the Textile Labelling Regulation; digital labelling is among the options. Until adopted, the physical label stays mandatory.
Reg. (EU) 1007/2011 reviewTextile delegated actExpected
The textile-specific passport requirements are adopted at EU level. Only then do the exact mandatory fields become law.
Forced labour ban appliesUpcoming
Products made with forced labour may no longer be placed on the EU market or exported, for every operator whatever its size; authorities enforce by investigation.
Regulation (EU) 2024/3015National textile EPR schemesUpcoming
Every EU country must have a producer responsibility scheme running, with fees resting on the weight placed on the market, modulated on ecodesign criteria such as durability and recyclability.
Directive (EU) 2025/1892DPP compliance expectedExpected
Passports realistically become mandatory for textiles placed on the EU market, 18 months after the delegated act enters into force.
Due diligence duty appliesUpcoming
The corporate due diligence directive applies to the largest companies; smaller suppliers meet it as data requests capped at the voluntary standard.
Directive (EU) 2024/1760, as amendedLast reviewed October 2026. Dates are expectations, not legal advice.
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