Activities of Pietro FIOCCHI related to 2022/2171(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles
Amendments (29)
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Calls for a revision of the criteria for awarding the Ecolabel to associate this label with products for which at least three economically significant processes have taken place in accordance with clear sustainability criteria defined at EU level; underlines the need of organising and implementing a better and harmonised surveillance of the internal market, with specific customs controls to prevent the import of counterfeit and/or unsafe textile products lacking the requirements expressly demanded of those who produce and operate within the EU, in order to safeguard the consumer and the environment;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that ever-increasing regulation, which directly and indirectly affects the EU textiles industry, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, is seriously threatening the competitiveness of EU businesses; calls on the Commission and the Member States to only implement additional regulations if they facilitate sustainable business models, as many obligations drastically increase costs, especially for SMEs; calls for adequately weight extended producer responsibility obligations to safeguard subcontractors and intermediate processors;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Acknowledges the challenges to achieving a fully circular business model for textile companies, in particular owing to current technological and physical constraints on production and recycling, such as the use of chemicals, the lack of circular design, digitalisation gaps and the workforce’s up- and reskilling needs; stresses the need to introduce subsidised on taxation measures for products that meet ecological standards, thus enabling producers to sustain environmentally sustainable production processes while maintaining competitive price levels and supporting the value chain by promoting the reshoring of delocalised production in the EU;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Welcomes the intention of the Commission to revise the Textile Labelling Regulation; calls on the Commission to further clarify and ease the classification process to apply for new fibre composition names for novel and distinctive materials;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges the urgency of ensuring that textile products placed on the EU market are long-lived, reusable and recyclable, and free of hazardous substances that may negatively impact on their sustainability and circularity; expresses its concern that the measures identified in the EU Strategy might not be sufficient to fulfil the 2030 objective and calls on the Commission to ensure all necessary measures, including additional measures to those identified in the strategy, are taken to achieve the 2030 vision;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Acknowledges that the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles embraces the wider textile ecosystem and may have direct and indirect impacts on other materials used in garment and footwear; therefore, stresses the importance of clearly defining the scope of application of all pieces of legislation that will be adopted under the strategy, in order to ensure legal certainty and predictability for business operators in the Single Market, especially SMEs;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt measures to put an end to fast fashion; underlines the need to achieve a paradigm shift in the fashion industry to end overproduction and to make fast fashion go out of fashion by encouraging the production and consumption of slow fashion products that are sustainable, durable, reusable, and recyclable;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the need to support consumers in moving away from fast fashion and the excessive consumption of clothing and in making responsible and sustainable textile consumption choices; calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop and implement awareness-raising programmes on sustainable consumption and the environmental and climate impacts of the textile and clothing industry, in collaboration with civil society and industry stakeholders;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that research and innovation is key to maintaining the EU textiles industry’s leading position in innovation2 , especially in sustainable fibres such as bio-based fibres, in inventing and scaling up circular production and recycling technologies, and in harnessing the opportunities offered by digitalisation, e.g. with the Digital Product Passport or smart textiles; _________________ 2 Ibid., provided that such an initiative does not lead to more bureaucracy for producers, enabling micro and SMEs to better communicate their sustainability;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that research and innovation isare key to maintaining thekeep EU textiles industry’s in the leading position infor innovation2 , especially infor new sustainable fibres such as, including bio-based fibres, in inventing and scaling up circular production, high-quality automatic composition sorting technologies and recycling technologies, and in harnessingmaking use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation offers, e.g. with the Digital Product Passport or smart textiles; _________________ 2 Ibid.
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses the need to introduce subsidises on taxation measures for products that meet ecological standards, thus enabling producers to sustain environmentally sustainable production processes while maintaining competitive price levels and supporting the value chain by promoting the reshoring of delocalised production in the EU.
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that several EU funding opportunities exist, such as via Cluster 2 of Horizon Europe or the European Innovation Council; calls for the creation of an EU research and innovation agenda aligned with the transition pathway for the textiles ecosystem; underlines the leading role the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) on Culture & Creativity3 and Manufacturing4 should play in this process; calls for the development at European level of 'Textile Hubs', i.e. innovative textile regeneration poles, made up of research centres and disposal plants, for the sorting and recovery of pre- and postconsumer waste, turning waste into value and creating new jobs in textile manufacturing districts. _________________ 3 https://eit.europa.eu/eit-community/eit- culture-creativity. 4 https://www.eitmanufacturing.eu/.
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Draws attention to the essentiality of real involvement in the textile green transition of micro, small-medium enterprises which provide a significant contribution in terms of companies' number, employees, turnover, and added value.
Amendment 126 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Invites the European Commission to publish, as soon as possible, a regulation containing European criteria for the End of Waste of textiles, to ensure an efficient and smoother marketing of products obtained from the recovery of textile waste, encouraging the use of recycled products and the dissemination of innovative research poles for textile regeneration.
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that textiles are the fourth biggest contributor to climate change from an EU consumption perspective, and that the industry’s emissions are only expected to increase9 ; calls for further legislation to fully decarbonise the industry, starting with more transparency on scope 3 emissions in textile supply chains; calls for ambitious science-based targets to be set by 2024 for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the textiles sector, covering their entire lifecycle, in line with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures; recalls that around 70 % of the emissions related to the Union’s textile consumption take place outside of the EU10 ; calls for more robust information and disclosure on the impacts on biodiversity; calls for the development at European level of 'Textile Hubs', i.e. innovative textile regeneration poles, made up of research centres and disposal plants, for the sorting and recovery of pre- and postconsumer waste, turning waste into value and creating new jobs in textile manufacturing districts; __________________ 9 https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular- economy/pdf/new_circular_economy_actio n_plan.pdf 10 https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/tex tiles-in-europes-circular-economy
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls for the provision of aid for innovation and the renovation of shops for selling products resulting from recycling activities. The shops will provide second-hand corners or workshops for in- store repairs and related machinery;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Stresses the need to further support new circular business models through a combination of several policy measures and urges the Commission and Member States to consider adopting reduced or removing VAT on second- hand resale and repair;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses the need to regulate all textile products under the Ecodesign Regulation, starting with textile production, the garments and footwear sector as a priority;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls for the ecodesign requirements for textiles products to set horizontal requirements swiftly, targeting a comprehensive group of products starting with garments and footwear, and later, when needed, to focus on differentiated requirements between different textile product groups; recognises that garment and footwear products not composed mainly of textile fibres shall be addressed through separate product groups, given the difference in their production process and consumer use, compared to textile products;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Considers that consumption of new textiles, such as clothes, depends largely on the availability of the products and their pricing, and not only on the need to replace a product that is no longer functional; calls for the policy framework to take a holistic view of durability, including the emotional durability of textile products put on the market, which describes the garment design that takes into account long-term relevance and desirability to consumers; calls for incentives for green consumption for the final consumer through taxation that favours green consumption, such as reduced VAT for recycled and second- hand products, and linked to sustainability and circular economy practices.
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Welcomes the intention of the Commission to set out harmonised EU rules on extended producer responsibility for textiles, with eco-modulation of fees as part of the revision of the Waste Framework Directive, and in particular that a significant proportion of the contributions made to extended producer responsibility schemes will be used for waste prevention and preparation for re-use measures; calls for adequately weight extended producer responsibility obligations to safeguard subcontractors and intermediate processors;
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Underlines that for extended producer responsibility rules to be effective and impactful both from a sustainability and business feasibility perspective, harmonisation of rules across the EU and Member States will be crucial;
Amendment 267 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Underlines the importance of scaling-up textile fibre-to-fibre recycling, as less than 1% of discarded textiles are recycled in a closed loop globally; recalls that post-consumer sorting is an essential step to enable recycling, in particular in light of the upcoming requirement for Member States to set up separate collection of textile waste by 2025 under the Waste Framework Directive; calls for the scaling-up of automated sorting infrastructure for post-consumer textiles, which can deliver high levels of precision and efficiency, making use of contributions made to extended producer responsibility schemes, in line with the “polluter pays” principle;
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Agrees with the Commission that the production of clothing from recycled bottles is not consistent with the circular model for PET bottles and calls for extended producer responsibility schemesCalls for extended producer responsibility schemes for textiles and other ad hoc measures to incentivise research, innovation, investments in and other meas scale up of infrastructures for textiles to incentivise investment inhigh- quality manual and automatic composition sorting, fibre- to-fibre recycling solutions that allow the separation and recycling of mixed materials and the decontamination of waste streams, and investments in sorting for reuse, ideally local;
Amendment 280 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Agrees with the CommissionNotes that the production of clothing from recycled bottles is not consistent with the circular model for PET bottles and, but calls for public funding on research and development, extended producer responsibility schemes and other measures for textiles to incentivise investment in fibre-to-fibre recycling solutions and investments in sorting for reuse, ideally local;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Expresses its regret that the proposal on substantiating environmental claims using standard product and organisation environmental footprint methods has been delayed; calls on the Commission to publish the proposal without further delay and to develop a green claims and product environmental footprint category rules architecture that treats apparel and footwear products made from natural and man-made materials equitably through consistent lifecycle comparisons;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Highlights the potential of the digital product passport to support full value chain coverage as part of a coherent framework with corporate due diligence legislation on sustainability, provided that such an initiative does not lead to more bureaucracy for producers, enabling micro and SMEs to better communicate their sustainability; calls on the Commission to require companies to use the digital product passport to disclose and submit site information throughout their supply chains, as well as information on the use of materials and chemicals; calls for environmental information to be complemented by information on social aspects and labour and working conditions;
Amendment 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls for Commission’s guidance on promoting the introduction of tax breaks and tax credits to the fashion commercial enterprises for the donation of shops' surplus store inventory. Together with a streamlining of procedures, that would allow goods to be donated by fulfilling not only a social but also an environmental role; in particular, proximity retailers could play an important role in the ethical-sustainable supply chain with the recovery of used products for favouring their recycling or reuse, for instance, through clothes in good condition's donation to NGOs/charities;
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Regrets that the strategy does not envisage any action against the harmful purchasing practices of companies; points out that according to the International Labour Organization, the current power imbalance between garment buyers and their suppliers causes overproduction and exploitation of workers in the industry11 ; considers that unfair purchasing practices such as last minute changes in design or lead times, unilateral amendments to contracts and last minute cancellation of orders should be banned for companies active in the single market through a revision of existing legislation; considers the priority issue in the failure to redistribute added value to companies operating along the entire supply chain: in particular, SMEs and suppliers suffer from an imbalance of negotiating power. This production model conveys and retains almost all the added value on the client's part. This has an implication for the EU rules of competition in international markets. __________________ 11 https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public /---ed_protect/---protrav/--- travail/documents/publication/wcms_5611 41.pdf