An anti-fast fashion bill proposed by lawmakers in France is gaining traction among other European Union member states ahead of an environment-focused meeting later this month. In a newly-leaked discussion paper, representatives from Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands have joined delegates from France in calling on their fellow EU member states to back an effort to “introduce concrete [legal] measures to combat the commercial practice of ultra-fast fashion” in the EU, including by way of the introduction of a tax on fast fashion products and the development of a fast fashion-specific extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) scheme.
“While the quantity of textiles consumed per capita in Europe has risen dramatically in recent years, the average use of a garment has fallen. Some studies even estimate that some consumers throw away their cheap clothes after seven or eight uses,” the discussion paper states, noting that the number of garments sold in the EU doubled to an estimated 100 billion a year between 2000 and 2015.
The discussion paper is a direct nod to the “first-of-its-kind” piece of legislation proposed by French lawmakers earlier this year, in which they endeavor to add an initial tax of €5 on to the price of each new fast fashion item sold and “a maximum penalty of €10 per product by 2030.” On top of that, they aim to introduce an EPR scheme for clothing textiles, household linens, and shoes to ensure that the costs of clothing/textile sorting, recycling, etc. are being paid by producers.
The relevant delegates from France, Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands are calling on their fellow Environmental Council members to amend the EU’s Waste Framework Directive draft to make specific mention of fast fashion products and accordingly, incorporate their proposed tax and EPR terms. They claim that “member states may require the producer responsibility organizations to make use of EPR fee modulations based on the extrinsic durability of products, such as the number of textiles references placed on the market and the frequency of renewal of textiles collections, coupled with a volume threshold of products per collection.”
The EU’s Environmental Council is slated to meet on June 17 to vote on “a general approach to the [European] Commission’s proposal to revise the Waste Framework Directive,” which aims to “reduce the environmental and climate impacts associated with textile and food waste generation and management.”
> Waste Framework Directive: First introduced in 2008 and last updated in 2018, the Waste Framework Directive is the EU’s legal framework for waste management. In July 2023, the European Commission proposed amendments to the Directive to introduce mandatory and harmonized EPR schemes for textiles in all EU member states. Not only will the proposed regulations “promote the sustainable management of textile waste throughout the EU,” the Commission says they “will also be an incentive for [manufacturers] to reduce waste and improve the cyclability of textile products by developing better products from the outset.”
In addition to revising the Waste Framework Directive, Environmental Council members are expected to reach a general approach on the Green Claims Directive.
> Green Claims Directive: Focused primarily on consumer-facing environmental claims that companies make about themselves, as well as their products/services, the Green Claims Directive – which will apply to the vast majority of EU operating companies – will introduce new minimum substantiation requirements and mandate that companies making environmental claims communicate them accurately and have them verified by a third-party before being published. Additionally, it will prohibit the use of generic environmental claims (such as “eco-friendly”, “eco”, “green”, “sustainable”, “made of 100% recycled plastic” and “climate neutral”) unless they are based on demonstrated environmental performance.
Regardless of the outcome on June 17, the Waste Framework and Green Claims directives are a clear demonstration of the European Commission’s enduring ambitions to cut down on waste on the EU, while also combatting greenwashing and better equipping consumers with information to make more informed (and sustainability-driven) purchasing decisions. In light of the risks at play, both from a monetary and reputation point of view, companies will need to adapt to such pending legislation, per EY, in order to “maintain corporate reputation, boost customer trust, and promote ethical and sustainable business practices.”