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.
Directive (EU) 2025/1892, revised Waste Framework Directive
In force October 2025. Schemes running by April 2028. Micro-enterprises April 2029.
Extended Producer Responsibility makes the brand pay towards the end of life of what it sells. The revised Waste Framework Directive entered into force in October 2025; Every EU country must have a national textile EPR scheme running by April 2028, and separate textile collection already applies. EPR fees are to rest on the weight a brand places on the market, modulated on ecodesign criteria such as durability and recyclability.
The EU timetable
- Separate textile collection has applied across the EU since January 2025.
- Member States transpose the directive by June 2027.
- National schemes must be operational by April 2028; micro-enterprises get until April 2029.
Every brand placing textiles on a national market counts as a producer there, whatever its size, and registers with that country's scheme. Fees are set nationally, but the directive fixes their basis: the weight and, where appropriate, the quantity of the products placed on the market, modulated for textiles on the ecodesign requirements adopted under ESPR once they exist, or on other harmonised EU sustainability criteria until then. That is why composition, weight and construction data matter before any scheme publishes its form.
Country by country (as checked, expectations where no law is published)
| Country | Where it stands | What to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| France | A scheme has operated for years; brands declare quantities placed on the French market by category each year and may declare eligible styles for eco-modulation bonuses. | Category mapping per style, recycled content and durability evidence per style. |
| Netherlands | A scheme has run since July 2023; the first substantive reuse and recycling report was due by July 2026. | Kilograms placed on the market per category per calendar year. |
| Denmark | A collective scheme is being prepared; pre-registration is open and the reporting format is not published. | Weights and fibre breakdown per style; watch the executive order. |
| Sweden | The environment agency reports first, then a draft law follows; no scheme is running. | The same weights and fibres; nothing to file yet. |
Where brands get caught
- Registering in one country and selling in five. Registration is per market where products are placed.
- Treating packaging and textiles as one obligation. They are separate schemes with separate fees in the countries that run both.
- Waiting for the Danish or Swedish form before collecting weights. The numbers are not in doubt even when the columns are.
Where the record pays back
- Eco-modulation rewards the same things a good passport shows: recyclable construction, recycled content, documented durability.
- A record that carries weights per garment and per batch answers any scheme's quantity question in minutes.
One record
What the Seamdex record already carries
- Garment weight, fibre weights by fibre and packaging mass per garment and per batch, from the same calculation the passport uses.
- Recycled content by source, the recyclability score and its criteria, and the robustness score.
- Exports per purchase order or per period as CSV or Excel, plus filings in each national scheme's layout.
Built around the data set the Commission's researchers have proposed, updated as the delegated act lands. Not a compliance claim: no one can make one before the act exists.
FAQ
Questions on this rule
Sources
- Directive (EU) 2025/1892 (EUR-Lex) checked October 2026
- European Commission, waste framework directive and textiles checked October 2026
- Refashion, declarations for marketers checked October 2026
- Netherlands, EPR for textiles (ILT) checked October 2026
- Tekstilretur (Denmark) checked October 2026
Related rules
Regulatory dates last reviewed October 2026. Future dates are expectations, not law. This guide describes the rules; it is not legal advice.
