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Publication
Merger law reform in Australia: What next after the Exposure Draft?
As expected, the Australian Commonwealth Treasury released an exposure draft for the proposed new Australian merger regime on 24 July 2024.
Global | Publication | November 2023
The EU generates 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste per year. Every year, clothing and footwear alone account for 12 kg of waste per person in the EU. In line with the European Green Deal2 and the Circular Economy Action Plan,3 the EU aims to increase the percentage of textile waste collected for re-use or recycling, which is currently only 22%.
The EPR Textile Proposal would amend the Waste Framework Directive (WFD).4 The WFD already contains an obligation for Member States to establish separate collections of textile waste by 2025. This proposal gives further substance to how Member States should structure their textile waste collection obligation. Further, the EPR Textile Proposal also clarifies what constitutes textile waste and what are considered reusable textiles.
The EPR Textile Proposal would shift the costs of collection of textile waste from the authorities (and, therefore, the tax payers) to the producers of textiles. Producers will cover the costs of management of textile waste, which, according to the EC “will also give them incentives to reduce waste and increase the circularity of textile products – designing better products from the start.”5
The EPR Textile Proposal aims to broaden the producers’ responsibility regarding the separation, sorting, re-use and recycling of textile products. The key elements of the EPR Textile Proposal are:
Prior to the introduction of the EPR Textile Proposal, some European member states, including France and the Netherlands, had already adopted legislation similar to the EPR Textile Proposal.
The Netherlands
On 1 July 2023, the Extended Producer Responsibility for Textiles Decree (the Dutch EPR Decree) entered into force. In brief, the Dutch EPR Decree makes producers responsible for the waste management of textile products from 2025 onwards. The EPR Decree applies to producers of textiles who bring textiles onto the Dutch market for the first time. Key obligations for producers under the Dutch EPR Decree include:
Producers of textiles may give effect to the Dutch EPR Decree jointly with other producers, by means of joining the Dutch EPR Textile Foundation. This foundation is responsible for the obligations mentioned above, in exchange for a monetary contribution.
France
In France, the extended producer responsibility for textiles is regulated by two laws: the French law against waste and for a circular economy dated 10 February 2020 (the French Circular Economy Law) and the French Climate and Resilience Law dated 20 July 2021. These texts, which are being progressively implemented, apply to producers who market textile products for clothing, footwear, or household linen.
They mainly provide for two sets of obligations:
1. waste management obligations which include an obligation to organise the collection of discarded textiles either:
2. labelling requirements, which include:
It is worth mentioning that the French labelling requirement regarding sorting information might be subject to change as it is currently under review at EU level after the EC initiated an infringement procedure against France in the beginning of 2023.
The UK perspective
The UK is set to introduce a wide-ranging reform relating to EPR for packaging (see here our recent article on the topic which provides a briefing on the new rules that came into effect earlier this year). However, in contrast to the initiatives taken by some European member states, the UK has not included textiles in its EPR scheme and confirmed in February 2023 that an EPR scheme for textiles will not be introduced in the near future.
However, recently the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs set out its policy goals for England in respect of a specific textile EPR scheme. These policy goals, some of which are listed below, indicate that an EPR scheme for textiles is still being contemplated:
The EPR Textile Proposal will need to be considered and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council before it is adopted. If the EPR Textile Proposal is adopted, member states would then have a further eighteen months to transpose the directive into national law. Member states need to ensure that EPR schemes are in place within 30 months following the entry into force of the directive.
In light of the EPR schemes already introduced by the EU for, among others, batteries, packaging waste, and electronics, we expect the EPR Textile Proposal to be adopted as well. We note that it may well be that the content of the EPR Textile Proposal will be amended before it is adopted.
Aside from monitoring the EPR Textile Proposal, producers of textiles should prepare themselves by considering how they will design their extended producer responsibilities.
Publication
As expected, the Australian Commonwealth Treasury released an exposure draft for the proposed new Australian merger regime on 24 July 2024.
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