2022/2171(INI) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)

-1. Whereas the Textile, Garment, Leather, and Footwear sector (TGLF) is one of the largest sectors in the global economy, with the majority of workers being women; whereas it is characterized by poor working conditions and workers’ rights violations, including with regard to farmers that grow agricultural fibre crops like cotton;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles as a step forward in tackling the challenges linked to textile and clothes production; welcomes further EU efforts on its commitments towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; strongly encourages the international promotion of this approach and strengthening cooperation with partners, as well as ensuring its coherence with EU trade policy, in particular the granting of generalised trade preferences;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Recalls ILO Convention 111 and Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the right to non- discrimination;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Recalls the importance it has for the sector to reach SDG 5 on gender equality, as an estimated 75%1a of the employees in the garment sector are women; recalls that the wages of garment workers are often far below living wages, with unpaid overtime and no fixed contracts, a fact that is complemented by health hazards, gender-based violence, psychological and physical abuse creating precarious working conditions and overall situations of vulnerability; recalls that, everywhere, women are hit particularly hard by poverty, economic crises, conflicts, violence, environmental disasters and climate extremes; denounces the gender-pay gap and the lack of women in senior leadership-roles in the sector worldwide; _________________ 1a SWD (201) 147 Sustainable garment value chains through EU development action

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Recalls that global textile production almost doubled between 2000 and 2015 while less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)

1 d. Denounces the vicious circle created by climate change effects which force agricultural workers to abandon their land because it is no longer suitable for farming and to go to the industrial centers having to seek exploitative employment in the garment industry, among others; recalls that those migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation as they lack social support networks and because there is a general lack of social infrastructure and legal protection; recalls that increasing droughts or floods also threaten cotton farmers worldwide; recalls that cotton is a particularly striking example for that vicious circle, as it harms the soil due to excessive water use while also having damaging effects on farmers and the environment due to the use of pesticides and insecticides;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Recalls the principle of policy coherence for development and especially Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which states that ‘the Union shall take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’; and stresses that this principle is intended to permeate all EU policies, including its trade policy, through free trade agreements and the granting and monitoring of generalised trade preferences, in particular the 'GSP+' and 'Everything But Arms' ('EBA') schemes; 1c _________________ 1c https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to- markets/en/content/everything-arms-eba

Amendment 16 #

Catherine CHABAUD, Barry ANDREWS, Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Charles GOERENS, Stéphane BIJOUX

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Recalls the principle of policy coherence for development and especially Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which states that ‘the Union shall take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’; stresses the importance of minimising possible contradictions and building synergies with development cooperation policy, to the benefit of developing countries and in order to increase the effectiveness of development cooperation;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Recalls the principle of policy coherence for development (PCD) and especially Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which states that ‘the Union shall take account of the objectives of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries’; highlights the importance of PCD to enable an integrated approach to achieve the SDGs;

Amendment 18 #

Catherine CHABAUD, Barry ANDREWS, Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Charles GOERENS, Stéphane BIJOUX

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights that the production of textiles and clothing (T&C) often takes place outside the EU and most T&C traded in the EU are imported from third countries; recalls the need to promote circularity and to implement a life-cycle approach, taking into account the entire chain, from production to consumption, while ensuring traceability as well as supporting innovative textiles that are more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient; supports actions aiming at tackling greenwashing and raising awareness concerning the implications that ‘fast fashion’ and consumer behaviour have for the planet;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights that the production of textiles and clothing (T&C) often takes place outside the EU and most T&C traded in the EU are imported from third countries which pay the social and environmental price without being paid properly in terms of retail or purchase value; calls on the Commission to ensure a level playing field for products produced within the Union and those exported or imported;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)

-1 a. Whereas the TGLF value chain has become increasingly buyer-driven over the years, which has led to low prices, increased time pressure, and poor payment terms; whereas these conditions of market power asymmetries between suppliers and global buyers fuel and exacerbate the risk of labour rights abuses in TGLF producing factories;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights that the production of textiles and clothing (T&C) often takes place outside the EU and most T&C traded in the EU are imported from third countries; stresses that EU market power must be leveraged to encourage sustainable production practices in the TGLF industry, including through the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Sustainability Compact as a tool for promoting workers’ rights;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights that the production of textiles and clothing (T&C) often takes place outside the EU and most T&C traded in the EU are imported from third countries, which generates environmental, labour and human rights risks that need to be identified and addressed;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights that the production of textiles and clothing (T&C) often takes place outside the EU and most T&C traded in the EU are imported from ~~third~~developing countries;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Notes, in this regard, that textiles are the main category of imports under the generalised trade preferences and that, since the adoption of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012,1a textiles accounted for 42% of imports covered by the generalised trade preferences in 2014 and 50% in 2016 and that the provisions governing these preferences (in particular compliance with the fundamental conditions for the granting thereof) are an effective lever for improving working and production conditions in this sector in the beneficiary countries; _________________ 1a Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 732/2008

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Stresses that TGLF value chains are characterised by social and environmental risks that affect companies and stakeholders along the value chain including farmers, producers and workers; welcomes the Commission proposal for a Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive (CSDD) as an important step to address specific problems in the textile sector; stresses the need to include SMEs in the legislation to create a level playing field in the implementation of sustainable practises;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Welcomes that rules banning the destruction of unsold new goods are considered by the Commission, but points out that such rules should contribute to effectively reducing overproduction, especially in view of upholding environmental and labour standards in third countries;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Recalls that around 70% of the emissions related to the Union’s textile consumption take place outside of the EU; calls for more robust information and disclosure on impacts on biodiversity;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Calls on the Commission to set an EU-wide quantitative target for material and consumption footprint reduction, with specific objectives for textile products, as well as an accompanying implementation timeline, in order to tackle the environmental and social issues related to fast fashion, which are especially acute in developing countries; underlines that strongly promoting the re-use sector is essential in order to provide consumers with affordable sustainable clothing options, which in turn is an essential factor in tackling fast fashion; calls on the Commission to provide Member States with recommendations on tax incentives that promote investments in a sustainable textile industry;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

(3b) Regrets that a number of countries, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, which benefit from the 'GSP+' and 'Everything But Arms"'generalised trade preference schemes respectively, are characterised by significant shortcomings in the area of labour law; stresses that, in general, future generalised trade preference provisions must provide an opportunity for implementing more effectively the criteria for granting such advantages;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Recalls that as most of the final clothing and household textiles consumed in Europe are imported from third countries, the EU should promote greener and fairer value chains across borders and continents to ensure that textile products consumed in the EU and beyond are manufactured taking into consideration both social and environmental aspects across the globe;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)

-1 b. Whereas textile production and consumption also have severe impacts on the environment, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, chemical pollution, resource use and the volume of textile waste that is sent to landfill;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3 c. Recalls that, related to structural racism, indigenous craft is often appropriated - often without reward or consent mechanism - and used for clothing for mass-consumption, and traditional crafts and their makers are sacrificed, as local communities are pushed into low-paying garment worker jobs2a; _________________ 2a https://cleanclothes.org/file- repository/an-intersectional-approach- challenging-discrimination-in-the- garment-industry_lbl_dci-wpc-paper- final.pdf

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that T&C from Europe are often exported to third countries for disposal; stresses that this practice shifts environmental problems arising from the disposal of T&C to third countries; ~~recommend~~underlines that T&C toshould only be exported for disposal ~~must be prepared for proper recycling;~~ if prepared for proper recycling and if the exports are approved by the recipient country, while encouraging local re-use and recycling of collected textiles as a priority, based on the EU principle of proximity laid down in the Waste Framework Directive; calls on the EU to set up an effective control mechanism for the export of used textiles in order to prevent illegal shipments to third countries, and to establish EU criteria for the purpose of avoiding the circumvention of controls through the labelling of waste streams as second-hand goods;

Amendment 32 #

Catherine CHABAUD, Barry ANDREWS, Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Charles GOERENS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that T&C from Europe are often exported to third countries for disposal; stresses that this harmful practice shifts environmental problems arising from ~~the disposal of T&C to third countries; recommends that T&C to b~~overproduction and overconsumption back to third countries, via the disposal of T&C; recommends that proper circularity is established for the purpose of avoiding this kind of harmful practices; urges the EU and its Member states to fundamentally overhaul the linear nature of the tex~~ported for disposal must be prepared for proper recycling;~~ tile industry so as to reduce the consumption of resources like water and also to reduce pollution and waste, use non-hazardous substances, and to create decent jobs in repair, recycling and servicing sectors as well as economic benefits for society as a whole3a; _________________ 3a https://fairtrade-advocacy.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/07/Civil-Society- European-Strategy-for-Sustainable- Textiles.pdf

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that T&~~amp;~~C from Europe are often exported to third countries for disposal and that only a tiny proportion of the textiles in question is actually recycled; stresses that this practice shifts environmental problems arising from the disposal of T&~~amp;~~C to third countries; recommends that T&~~amp;~~C to be exported for disposal must be prepared for proper recycling and that innovative recycling solutions for used textiles be promoted and developed to avoid the use of landfill or incineration;

Amendment 35 #

Ádám KÓSA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that T&C from Europe are often exported to third countries for disposal; recommends that, instead of export, T&C shall be repaired and reused in Europe which would provide work on the one hand and clothes for marginalised people on the other hand; stresses that thise practice of exporting shifts environmental problems arising from the disposal of T&C to third countries; recommends ~~that~~ T&C to be exported for disposal must be prepared for proper recycling;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that T&C from Europe are often exported to ~~third~~developing countries for disposal; stresses that this practice shifts environmental problems arising from the disposal of T&C to ~~third~~developing countries; recommends that T&C to be exported for disposal must be prepared for proper recycling;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Notes that the preponderance of synthetic fabrics in textile production is adversely affecting the environment, in particular because of the oil consumption and plastics pollution involved; it has been estimated that the fashion industry contributes to approximately 31% 1b of total plastic pollution in our oceans and that measures to encourage the production of certain natural fibres such as hemp or linen could have beneficial effects on the environment and on employment, through the revival of local agricultural and industrial sectors, as in the Grand Est region of France; _________________ 1b 'It is believed that the fashion industry accounts for 31% of total plastic pollution in the ocean" Sustainable Approaches in Textiles and Fashion, Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu, Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

Amendment 38 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Beata KEMPA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Recalls that a separate collection of textiles will be mandatory in the EU from 1 January 2025; underlines that the revision of the Waste Framework Directive planned for 2024 should consider specific separate targets for textile waste prevention, textile reuse, preparation for reuse and recycling;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Stresses the need to intensify the search for innovative solutions (machines, equipment, digital platforms) for the sorting, reuse and management of collected textile waste up to the recycling stage;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)

-1 c. Whereas approximately 60% of all the garments produced in Bangladesh are imported into the EU; whereas the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact (2013) aims to promote continuous improvements in labour rights and factory safety in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector; whereas tangible improvements were achieved in enhancing building and workplace safety while it failed as an effective tool for promoting workers’ rights;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Calls on the Commission to establish an ambitious producer responsibility fee for clothing, to bring the textile industry in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle;

Amendment 41 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI

4 b. Stresses the need for all parties involved in the implementation of the transition from a linear to a circular model to work together: governments, local authorities, industry and researchers; stresses the importance of sharing knowledge and experience, identifying problems together, finding solutions and implementing them;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Stresses the need to promote research and innovation into less resource- and energy-intensive recycling options that are more affordable for businesses and increase the life cycles of the products concerned;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Recalls that the global textile and clothing industry is currently responsible for 92 million tonnes of waste annually;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4 c. Recalls that the mass influx of second-hand clothes from the EU into developing countries, especially in Africa, has caused a huge waste problem there, as well as damage to local textile production and job creation;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)

4 d. Recalls the risk of forced or child labour in the textile sorting industry;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that working conditions in the textile industry, mainly but not only in third countries, are often ~~substandard~~inacceptably deficient and have a direct negative impact on workers’ living standards due to low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate safety standards and harmful practices such as, among others, using dangerous chemicals which lead to poor health conditions and sometimes incurable deceases; highlights that women are in particular in an even more vulnerable position; ~~is equally concerned about persisting child labour~~condemns persisting child labour and forced labour as well as corruption in the industry;

Amendment 47 #

Catherine CHABAUD, Barry ANDREWS, Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Charles GOERENS, Stéphane BIJOUX

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that working conditions in the textile industry in third countries are often substandard and have a direct impact on workers’ living standards due to low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate safety standards; highlights that women are in particular in an even more vulnerable position; is equally concerned about persisting child labour in the industry; underlines, in this regard, the need for the EU to promote the ratification of all ILO conventions that are relevant for the textile industry in partner countries, especially in relation to living wages, adequate social protection, public bargaining, equal remuneration, harassment at the workplace, safety standards in factories and forced labour;

Amendment 48 #

5. Stresses that working conditions in the textile industry in third countries are often substandard and have a direct impact on workers’ living standards due to low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate safety standards; highlights that women are in particular in an even more vulnerable position; is equally concerned about persisting child and irregular migrant labour in the industry; reiterates the EU’s responsibility to design partnerships with local actors that promote human rights, democratic processes, good governance, gender equality and sustainability in the textile sector;

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that ~~working conditions in the textile industry in third countries are often sub~~the TGLF sector is typically characterised by poor working conditions and workers' rights violations; particularly in low-income production countries, where workers suffer from low wages, long working hours, inadequate safety standards and ~~have a direct impact on workers’ living standards due to low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate safety stand~~limitations to freedom of association and collective bargaining; furthermore, emphasizes that, when violations do occur, workers face numerous barriers to access or receive remediation for such hardms; highlights that women are in particular in an even more vulnerable position; is equally concerned about persisting child labour in the industry;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 d (new)

-1 d. Whereas the EU plays a key role as producer, investor, buyer/importer, retailer and consumer in TGLF value chains and therefore has considerable leverage to address the negative social and environmental impacts of the TGLF industry;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 51 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that working conditions in the textile industry in ~~third~~developing countries are often substandard and have a direct impact on workers’ living standards due to low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate safety standards; highlights that women are in particular in an even more vulnerable position; is equally concerned about persisting child labour in the industry;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Notes, in this connection, that the European Commission is continuing to grant preferential trade regimes to Pakistan (GSP +) or Bangladesh ('Everything but Arms') 1c and stresses that the European Union's new system of trade preferences must be conditional on genuine respect for fundamental principles of labour law and that the issue of working conditions in the textile sector must also be included in the dialogue arising from the Stabilisation and Association Agreements with the Balkan countries, in particular Albania, whose main exports are textiles and footwear; _________________ 1c https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to- markets/en/content/everything-arms-eba

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Points out that roughly two thirds of turnover in the EU-27 of textiles and clothing (T&C) are imported with developing countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan or Cambodia holding a sizeable share; notes that most of the environmental impact of EU textile consumption occurs outside the EU, such as 90 % of land use, almost 90 % of water use, 80 % of raw material use, and nearly 75 % of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and recalls in this context that developing countries face more difficulties maintaining adequate social and environmental standards in T&C production;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Highlights that negative environmental and social impacts in supplier countries cannot be avoided through due diligence legislation alone; calls on the Commission to provide additional support for local actors in partner countries and to take additional legislative measures to address these impacts in countries outside of the EU;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Recalls that unfair purchasing practices are one of the root causes of human rights violations, as low purchase prices and short time frames imposed by buyers on suppliers undermine, for example, the ability of factories to ensure decent working conditions, thus increasing the risk of human rights violations;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Welcomes the introduction of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) for textiles; stresses that the DPP should contain information on how environmental, labour and human rights standards are complied with through the entire supply chain;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Regrets that the strategy foresees no action against the harmful purchasing practices of companies; points out that, according to ILO, the current power imbalance between garment buyers and their suppliers causes overproduction and exploitation of workers in the industry; considers that unfair trading practices, such as last minute changes in design or lead times, unilateral amendments to contracts, insufficient purchasing practices and last-minute cancellation of orders, should be banned for companies active in the EU single market by way of a revision of existing legislation;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Emphasises, accordingly, the need to tackle Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs) in the textile and garment sector, through a regulatory approach, as a means to improve the ability of both buyers and suppliers to respect and fulfil a number of key human rights, including the payment of living wages, protection against gender-based violence, and the abolition of forced overtime, throughout the value chain.

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Underlines that the transition to a more sustainable and circular ecosystem of the textile industry offers the opportunity to improve the working conditions and remuneration of workers; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure the possibility of sectoral training and education in the field of sustainable textiles in order to safeguard current jobs, improve worker satisfaction and in order to ensure the availability of a skilled workforce within and outside the EU;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles as a step forward in tackling the challenges linked to textile and clothes production~~; welcomes further EU efforts on its commitments towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals~~ and stresses that actions following the presentation of the EU Strategy should be fully aligned with the Union’s climate and environmental objectives, in particular that of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest and of halting and reversing biodiversity loss; welcomes further EU efforts on its commitments towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 12, responsible consumption and production, and SDG 8, decent work and economic growth; strongly encourages the international promotion of this approach and strengthening cooperation with partners;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5 d. Recalls the risk workers are running when trying to establish workers' unions or going on strike; recalls that, in many countries, workers do not earn a living wage even when working extremely long hours and do not have the right to collective bargaining;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. SRecalls that human rights violations associated with TGLF value chains occurring in producing countries can often be attributed to weak laws or lack of enforcement of existing laws; strongly encourages the Commission, therefore, to supplement the Strategy with corresponding regional and country programming for developing countries in the framework of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe and Team Europe initiatives, which should promote projects that help to build T&C production and distribution infrastructure which protects the environment as well as social and labour rights. , and that promote governance reforms and better enforcement of laws, in particular labour laws; stresses that these reforms could be linked to market access to the EU to provide an added incentive for producing countries;

Amendment 62 #

Catherine CHABAUD, Barry ANDREWS, Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Charles GOERENS, Stéphane BIJOUX

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Strongly encourages the Commission, therefore, to supplement the Strategy with corresponding regional and country programming for developing countries in the framework of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe and Team Europe initiatives, which should promote projects that help to build T&C production and distribution infrastructure which protects the environment as well as social and labour rights., especially through the support and promotion of social enterprises;

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Strongly encourages the Commission, therefore, to supplement the Strategy with corresponding regional and country programming for developing countries in the framework of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe and Team Europe initiatives, which should promote and communicate visibly around sustainable projects that help to build T&C production and distribution infrastructure which protects the environment as well as social and labour rights.

Amendment 64 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Strongly encourages the Commission, therefore, to supplement the Strategy with corresponding regional and country programming for developing countries in the framework of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe and Team Europe initiatives, which should promote projects that help to build T&~~amp;~~C production and distribution infrastructure which protects the environment as well as social and labour rights and the generalised systems of trade preferences.

Amendment 65 #

6 a. Recalls that trade policies can play a crucial role in contributing to sustainable TGLF value chains, notably through effective enforcement of Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of EU trade agreements, including through complaint mechanisms to report non-compliance with multilateral labour and environmental agreements, and through systematic use of ex-ante and ex-post trade sustainability impact assessments and increased participation of stakeholders; in addition, urges the EU to effectively implement and monitor, in a publicly transparent and participative manner, the social and environmental conditions linked to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP, GSP+ and Everything but Arms);

Amendment 66 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Encourages the customs and market authorities of Member States, coordinated and supported by the Commission, to improve and increase surveillance of T&C imports and exports in order to prevent that goods produced in developing countries under violation of labour, social and environmental standards enter the single market, as well as to prevent T&C exports to developing countries which are labelled as second- hand products but are actually waste;

Amendment 67 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Beata KEMPA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Encourages the European Commission and the Member States to support national textile production chains, in particular those seeking to relocate production chains in the Member States, flax mills being an example, as well as research and development for resource-efficient recycling solutions that are affordable for economic operators.

Amendment 68 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Stresses that all waste should be seen as a source of resources that can be recovered and reused or recycled; encourages the Commission to adopt national and regional programmes, both in the EU and in developing countries, that promote the management of waste from raw materials as secondary raw materials for further use;

Amendment 69 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Recalls the need to improve accountability and transparency of brands in the T&C sector, for the purpose of guaranteeing the right to information for consumers;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the proposal for a Regulation for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products and especially the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles as a step forward in tackling the challenges linked to textile and clothes production; welcomes further EU efforts on its commitments towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals whilst still managing the impact on competitiveness and the administrative and financial burden for businesses that come along; points out that these challenges must be affordable for the affected businesses; strongly encourages the international promotion of this approach and strengthening cooperation with partners;

Amendment 70 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Underlines the need to invest in the early stages of the textile value chain to create opportunities for local high- value circular economic activities;

Amendment 71 #

Ryszard CZARNECKI, Beata KEMPA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Reminds the EU and its Member states that the proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive is supposed to introduce a horizontal due diligence obligation for big companies to identify, prevent, mitigate, bring to an end and account for actual and potential adverse impacts on human rights, including labour rights, and the environment in companies’ own operations and across their global value chains;

Amendment 72 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Recalls that the Strategy for Sustainable Textiles creates space for research, new projects, and tools to build concepts for doing business in the sector that are different to those previously known; encourages research on and the production of new materials (taking the product's life cycle into consideration), which can be achieved by linking different production and recycling sectors;

Amendment 73 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Calls on the EU to strengthen political dialogue with producer countries, including about the issue of shrinking spaces for civil society and trade unions to advocate for decent working conditions in TGLF factories;

Amendment 74 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6 b. Underlines the need to support investments in recycling/repair infrastructure in developing countries and upgrade their capacities to recycle and repair clothes;

Amendment 75 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6 c. Expresses its regret that the proposal on substantiating environmental claims using the product/organisation environmental footprint methods has been delayed; calls on the Commission to publish the proposal without further delay; recalls that sustainability claims in the EU single market should be clear, relevant and substantiated to enable consumers to make more informed and sustainable purchasing decisions with the aim to avoid so-called green-washing which causes confusion and distrust among consumers and undermines the efforts of businesses that provide genuinely green products and services;

Amendment 76 #

Catherine CHABAUD, Barry ANDREWS, Iskra MIHAYLOVA, Charles GOERENS, Stéphane BIJOUX

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)

6 d. Recalls that more than 200 million trees are logged each year for the purpose of processing them to cellulosic fabrics like viscose and rayon, and that up to 30% of the viscose and rayon used in the fashion industry is made from endangered and ancient forests which once were home to native plants and animals4a; recalls, furthermore, that for example in Brazil, land clearing to raise cattle which is then slaughtered for food and fashion purposes is responsible for 80% of the Amazon’s deforestation5a; highlights that the new EU Regulation on deforestation- free products will also include leather; _________________ 4a https://www.sustainably- chic.com/blog/how-the-fashion-industry- contributes-to-deforestation 5a https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/a rticles/leather-lobbying-and-deforestation

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles as a step forward in tackling the challenges linked to textile and clothes production~~; welcomes~~, unsustainable consumption patterns and waste; calls for further EU efforts on its commitments towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; strongly encourages the international promotion of this approach ~~and~~, including through strengthening cooperation with partners; developing countries with the overarching aim to limit the negative impacts of the worldwide textile industry on climate change and biodiversity;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles as a step forward in tackling the challenges linked to textile and clothes production; welcomes further EU efforts on its commitments towards the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; strongly encourages the international promotion of this approach and strengthening cooperation with partners; underlines that moving towards sustainable and circular textiles requires a holistic approach and changes at each stage in the value chain, with the involvement of players of all sizes and from all market segments;

source: 739.612

2022/12/14 FEMM 104 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Recital -A (new)

-A. having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015 ‘Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’1a, _________________ 1a A/RES/70/1 (http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.as p?symbol=A/RES/70/1)

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. B. Whereas the textile and clothing industries are often based on cheap labour, where women’s labour conditions are often substrandard and women are lacking any social protection;

Amendment 100 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 l (new)

5 l. Notes that women of all ages often have a central role in organising, funding, running and promoting initiatives and charity organisations centred on the manufacturing and sale of textile products; underlines that such organisations have historically been of great social significance both by creating employment opportunities for women and providing aid, support and charitable assistance for women in need;

Amendment 101 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 m (new)

5 m. Calls on the Commission to effectively communicate and promote through online platforms the significance of small, sustainable female-run textile- SMEs across the EU, giving them greater visibility and encouraging greater awareness of women’s eco-friendly entrepreneurship;

Amendment 102 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 n (new)

5 n. recalls that one of the aims of the ‘EU strategy for textiles initiative’ is to set in place a comprehensive framework to create conditions and incentives to boost the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of the EU textile sector; urges the Commission to ensure that this aim takes into consideration the pivotal role of women within the industry;

Amendment 103 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 o (new)

5 o. Calls on Member States to promote STEAM learning to better ensure that women play a key role in all aspects of the textile industry, including the use of high- tech machinery often required during various manufacturing procedures and thereby serving to underline the link between women, technology and textiles;

Amendment 104 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 p (new)

5 p. Calls on Member States to promote the economic independence of women seniors and recognise this as being another pivotal challenge for the coming years;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

A b. whereas many of the human rights violations in the textil and garment sector concern labour rights, including poverty wages, arbitrary dismissals, unsafe workplaces, gender-based violence and harassment or precarious work and work conditions; whereas, because of the feminization of the sector, those violations have a high gender impact; whereas despite the widespread violation of human rights, current remedial actions generally remain rare and victims face multiple obstacles to access judicial remedies, including procedural obstacles on admissibility and disclosure of evidence, often prohibitive litigation costs, absence of clear liability standards for corporate involvement in human rights abuses, and lack of clarity on the application of EU rules of private international law in transnational civil litigation;

Amendment 12 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

A b. whereas women are disproportionately represented in the most vulnerable and marginalised positions in the sector; whereas many of the women making up the garment industry are low wage workers, whereas garment workers on average only receive 1-3% of the final retail price of clothing;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

A b. whereas gender equality is a core principle of the EU, enshrined in Articles 2 and 3(3) TEU, Article 8 TFEU and Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights;

Amendment 14 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

A b. whereas women's leadership is central to the successful promotion of a circular economy;

Amendment 15 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

A c. whereas many women workers in the garment industry are under the threat of violence and sexual harassment, whereas issues linked to gender-based harassment and violence are often silenced by giant global value chains and intensified by gender power imbalances between a mostly female workforce and predominantly male management structures;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

A c. whereas Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals is Gender Equality, Goal 8 is Decent work and Economic Growth and Goal 12 is Responsible Consumption and Production; whereas many countries are falling behind on their targets, which Member States have committed to completing by 2030;

Amendment 17 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

A c. Whereas the clothing sector employs in total over 1.1million workers across the EU in 130 000 companies out of which 99% are SMEs; whereas women represent 52% of the workforce in the textile sector, 79% in the clothing sector, and 58% in the leather and footwear sectors;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

A c. whereas widespread abuse of female garment workers has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic mainly due to fashion brands’ response;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)

A d. whereas voluntary frameworks to protect women garment workers from violence and exploitation in the workplace in countries involved in textile subcontracting have proven ineffective; whereas binding measures have to be put in place to adress these violations of these human rights;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital -A a (new)

-A a. having regard to European Parliament resolution of 27 April 2017 on the EU flagship initiative on the garment sector,

Amendment 20 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)

A d. whereas the voices of women workers in the garment industry are often unheard; whereas the unequal distribution of power and agency, a lack of representation and limited access to justice have huge significance for the injustices women workers in the garment sector experience;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)

A d. whereas 189 states have signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which states that discrimination against women "violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity";3a _________________ 3a https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments- mechanisms/instruments/convention- elimination-all-forms-discrimination- against-women

Amendment 22 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the textile and garment industry is one of the most polluting industries2 by producing 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per year, which is more emissions than international flights and maritime shipping3a; whereas the textile and garment industry is one of the fastest growing ones and therefore its effects on the environment intensify continuously; whereas women and girls are frequently exposed to additional gender-specific factors and barriers that consistently render them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and disasters; _________________ 2 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/he adlines/society/20201208STO93327/the- impact-of-textile-production-and-waste-on- the-environment-infographic 3a A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the textile industry is one of the most polluting industries2 ; whereas Europeans consume on average 26 kg of textiles per person per year - a significant share of these coming from third countries; whereas women and girls are frequently exposed to additional gender- specific factors and barriers that consistently render them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and disasters; _________________ 2 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/he adlines/society/20201208STO93327/the- impact-of-textile-production-and-waste-on- the-environment-infographic

Amendment 24 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the textile industry is one of the most polluting industries2 ; whereas women and girls are more likely than men to be financially dependent on natural resource-based activities or climate- vulnerable sectors and are frequently exposed to additional gender-specific factors and barriers that consistently render them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and disasters; _________________ 2 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/he adlines/society/20201208STO93327/the- impact-of-textile-production-and-waste-on- the-environment-infographic

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas the social, green and feminist agenda are interlinked and share the goal to ensure a fair distribution of resources; whereas a circular economy is necessary for the realisation of the green & just transitions; whereas improving social sustainability therefore cannot be done through a single instrument but requires a holistic approach that looks at design, buying, production, consumption and recycling;

Amendment 26 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

B a. Calls on the Commission to mainstream the gender perspective, particularly regarding women's rights, in the implementation of the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textile; believes that this initiative should promote non- discrimination and address the issue of violence and harassment in the workplace, as already envisaged by European and international commitments;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

B a. Whereas women working in the textile sector, because of imbalanced power relationships and insecure working arrangements, unsafe working conditions, forced overtime and health hazards, are especially vulnerable to gender- based violence and sexual harassment; whereas gender inequalities in the textile sector lead to gender pay gap.

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas many women workers in the garment industry are under the threat of violence and sexual harassment; whereas these issues are often silenced by giant global value chains and intensified by gender power imbalances between a mostly female workforce and predominantly male management structures;

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the long tradition and experience of European textile industries, in which women have played an active role, form an invaluable part of Europe's historical heritage;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital -A b (new)

-A b. whereas the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textile contains green ambitions but falls short regarding other key aspects of the sector such as workers’ rights or the gender perspective;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas there is no scientific evidence to show that women and girls are particularly exposed to environmental disasters or other environmental impacts;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas this initiative also aims to ensure the sustained recovery of the textile industry following the COVID-19 crisis;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas women play an important role in Europe's textile industry yet the job losses in this sector, caused by relocations in particular, have undermined their independence and their financial situation;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

B b. whereas women, migrant and informal workers are key to circularity, but are especially vulnerable to negative social impacts; whereas this requires adoption of intersectional perspectives and approaches;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

B b. whereas this strategy is part of the EU's horizontal plan to move towards a climate-neutral, circular economy;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)

B c. whereas European textile consumption has the fourth highest environmental and climate change impact, after food, housing and mobility;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)

B d. whereas the textile industry is the third most significant sector in terms of the percentage of water and land used and the fifth in terms of primary raw material consumption and greenhouse gas emissions;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Recital B e (new)

B e. whereas the COVID-19 crisis has affected both men and women in a significant manner, and in particular those working in low-paid jobs, precarious forms of employment and feminised sectors, including, for example, the textile industry;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)

-1. Regrets that the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textile does not recognize the value of the industry´s labour, in particular of the role of women workers;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Notes that in addition to its significant negative environmental and climate impacts, the textile industry also has a detrimental social impact; stresses that a disproportionate number of women and marginalised groups carry out precarious work~~, often involuntarily~~ and hold low-paid jobs, often involuntarily; points out, in this context, the need to protect the social and labour rights of those employed in the textile industry, as well as the need for sufficient improvements in working conditions and standards in this economic sector;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas women account for approximately 80 % of the global garment workforce1 ~~and comprise the majority of low-w~~, are disproportionately represented in low-wage jobs in the lower tiers of the sector’s supply chain and consistently lag behind men in terms of pay1a ; whereas low wages, coupled with low or non-existent social protection make these women and children particularly vulnerable to exploitation; whereas wages of women working on this sector of activity are set at well below the living wage, a sum which allows workers to provide for their basic needs and those of their family (such as housing, health care, food, education, transportation and savings); whereas according to the Fair Wage Network~~ers~~, the minimum wages in textile producing countries are two to five times lower than the living wage; whereas the employment of women in the garment sector in developing countries contributes significantly to household incomes and poverty reduction; _________________ 1 Briefing entitled ‘Textile workers in developing countries and the European fashion industry: Towards sustainability?’, European Parliament, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services, 24 July 2020. 1a Moving the Needle: Gender Equality and Decent Work in Asia’s Garment Sector, ILO, 2021.

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Notes that in addition to its significant negative environmental and climate impacts, the textile industry also has a detrimental social impact; stresses that a disproportionate number of women and marginalised groups car~~ry out~~e engaged in precarious work, ~~often involuntarily~~including high levels of part time work, receipt of poverty wages substantially below living wages, forced labour, hazardous working conditions, health damage in connection with chemicals used, and gender-based violence including sexual harassment;

Amendment 41 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Notes that in addition to its significant negative environmental, such as biodiversity and climate impacts, the textile industry also has a detrimental social impact; stresses that a disproportionate number of women and marginalised groups carry out precarious work, often involuntarily, in inhumane and dangerous working conditions without work safety, social security or other social benefits and below decent wages, some in conditions of forced labour;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Notes that in addition to its significant negative environmental and climate impacts, the textile industry also has a detrimental social impact; stresses that a disproportionate number of women and marginalised groups car~~ry out precarious work, oft~~e concentrated in low-paid, low-skilled occupations within garment factories and in informal occupation; stresses that this work is precarious and often undertaken involuntarily;

Amendment 43 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Welcomes the initiatives of European SMEs, in which women are stakeholders, to relocate their textile activities to EU territory and adopt more sustainable production methods; notes that this trend is helping to create skilled jobs in the EU, which benefit women in particular;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Highlights that working conditions and labour laws in third countries supplying the EU with textile products are often extremely poor or not properly enforced; underlines in particular restrictions to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and limitations on paid maternity leave; highlights that women and disadvantaged groups are often in informal employment and do not have access to social security;

Amendment 45 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Notes that the traditional textile industry must be able to serve the concrete needs of a society, as evidenced by the current economic and humanitarian crisis, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic and current wars;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Notes that for women, Europe has historically been fertile ground for the founding and development of the most important, successful and high quality driven brands and industries in the textile and garment industry;

Amendment 47 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Highlights that Gender Based Violence (GBV) has been widely reported in the textile industry; stresses that women and girls in garment factories are particularly at risk of harassment and GBV due to their precarious, low-income employment, as well as limited upward mobility, the location of workplaces and on-site housing4a; highlights that the victims of GBV may face barriers to reporting violence or harassment and calls for employers in the textile sector to ensure that there are robust, gender sensitive operational-level grievance mechanisms to enable workers to report harassment, violence or threats of violence anonymously and confidentially without fear of reprisal; calls for appropriate remediation mechanisms; calls for the inclusion of women in the design of monitoring and evaluation measures; calls employers to provide training and education on gender-equality and GBV to male and female employees; _________________ 4a https://mneguidelines.oecd.org/oecd- due-diligence-guidance-garment- footwear.pdf

Amendment 48 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Regrets that for the most part the production process of goods in the textile and garment industry has been delocalised in extra EU countries and to that end laments the consequential loss of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for European women workers;

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Notes that now that the industrial revolution has come to an end, women have much potential to be tapped and the freedom to decide their professional futures and jobs in accordance with their merits and individual worth;

Amendment 5 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas women account for approximately 80 % of the global garment workforce1 and comprise the majority of low-wage workers and therefore are disproportionally affected by the negative impacts of the garment industry; _________________ 1 Briefing entitled ‘Textile workers in developing countries and the European fashion industry: Towards sustainability?’, European Parliament, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services, 24 July 2020.

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Notes that women in the textile industry are often excluded from decision- making spaces; calls on employers in the textile industry to take steps to ensure female representation at managerial and leadership level and mid-level positions, and to ensure female representation at consultation forums;

Amendment 51 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Welcomes the fact that the market of women’s vintage garments has been reinvigorated in recent years;

Amendment 52 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)

1 d. Calls on buying companies and factories to develop gender-mainstreamed Codes of Conduct with policies on GBV and harassment as well as clear enforcement mechanisms; calls on buying companies to include gender equality in contractual agreements with suppliers;

Amendment 53 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Urges the Member States to ratify the relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, in particular The Equal Remuneration Convention (No. 100), Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (No. 111) and The Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183) and implement its recommendations, especially those intended to reduce the scale of precarious work and protect workers from the harmful effects of hazardous chemicals, ~~as well as from violence and harassment in the workplace;~~ of which gender-disaggregated data is unfortunately often lacking, as well as from violence and harassment in the workplace; stresses that production of textiles is very chemical-intensive and exposures women to chemicals causing cancer, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and allergens4a, inter alia; _________________ 4a Women, Chemicals and the SDGs - Gender Review Mapping with a Focus on Women and Chemicals: Impact of Emerging Policy Issues and the Relevance for the Sustainable Development Goals; Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), 2020

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Urges the Member States to ratify the relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and implement its recommendations, especially those intended to ~~reduce~~ensure occupational health and safety and building standards, reduce Gender-Based Discrimination and the scale of precarious work, and protect workers from the harmful effects of chemicals, as well as from violence and harassment in the workplace;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Urges the Member States to ratify the relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and implement its recommendations, especially those intended to reduce the scale of precarious work and protect workers from the harmful effects of chemicals, a~~s well as~~nd from violence and harassment in the workplace as well as those related to home work as it is prevalent in the textile and garment supply chain;

Amendment 56 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Urges the Member States to ratify the relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and implement its recommendations, especially those intended to reduce the scale of precarious work and protect workers from the harmful effects of chemicals, as well as from ~~violence and~~all forms of violence, including harassment, in the workplace;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Urges the Member States to ratify the relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, including ILO Convention 190, and implement its recommendations, especially those intended to reduce the scale of precarious work and protect workers from the harmful effects of chemicals, as well as from violence and harassment in the workplace;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Calls on the EU and the Member States to carry out extensive information and awareness-raising campaigns to draw attention to the negative impact of the textile sector on the environment and climate change, as well as to the need to improve employment conditions and labour standards in the sector;

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Calls on the EU to support efforts to prevent gender-based violence in the textile sector by committing to the ratification and implementation of the ILO Convention 190 on Ending Violence and Sexual Harassment in the World of Work;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas jobs that are traditionally labelled as “women’s work” or that are in highly feminized sectors, such as the garment sector, tend to be under-valued; whereas women generally have access to a narrow range of jobs and tasks, face horizontal and vertical occupational segregation, concentrated in the lowest- skilled and lowest-paid tasks, as well as direct and indirect discrimination based on gender, including pregnancy-based discrimination ; whereas they also suffer occupational diseases and lack of access to appropriate and much needed healthcare;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Demands to allow women workers’ unions to be freely established and operated and asks to respect the right to collective bargaining;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2 b. Highlights the strong risk of perpetuating existing job quality concerns in circular roles, where marginalised and disenfranchised groups including informal, women and migrant workers are overrepresented; calls therefore for the Commission and Member States to deliberately include positive social outcomes into the transition in all relevant legislation

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Calls for employers in the textile sector to facilitate the training and upskilling of low-wage textile sector workers, in particular wo~~Highlights that skilling, upskilling and re-skilling in the textile sector play a key role to reduce the gender gap in employment; underlines the importance for corporate investment to ensure that women access quality lifelong learning and training, particularly after periods of absence for care reasons, taking strong measures to overcome the lack of timen and ~~other marginalised groups, during working hours~~resources and addressing gender bias and gender stereotypical choices; highlights the need to inform female workers about their rights, labour legislation and safety and health issues, as well as the need to provide training to male managers on gender equality and non-discrimination;

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for employers in the textile sector to facilitate the training and upskilling of low-wage textile sector workers, in particular women and other marginalised groups and including those engaged in the most precarious employment, during working hours;

Amendment 64 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for the relevant public institutions and employers in the textile sector to facilitate the training and upskilling of low-wage textile sector workers, inwith a particular focus on women and other marginalised groups, including during working hours;

Amendment 65 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for employers in the textile sector to facilitate the training and upskilling of low-wage textile sector workers, in particular women and men and other marginalised groups, during working hours;

Amendment 66 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Stresses that the textile industry needs to be thoroughly restructured in order to establish a circular economy and to reduce its negative impact on the climate and the environment; points out, however, having regard in particular to the post-COVID-19 pandemic situation and the ongoing humanitarian and economic crisis, that in order to achieve the objectives set out in the Strategy, very high levels of investment and a significant amount of time will be needed for operators in this sector to adapt;

Amendment 67 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt strong measures to ensure women’s access to a fair and inclusive digital and green transition in the textile sector;

Amendment 68 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Calls for employers in the textile sector to ensure a basic social security to their employees;

Amendment 69 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Recalls that women who work in textile and garments manufacturing are exposed to health risks due to the presence of hazardos substances used in textile products and highlights the urgency to adopt measures regarding health and safety at work that include a gender-sensitive approach;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. Whereas the Commission in its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 commits to include a gender perspective in all aspects and levels of policy making, internal and external, including addressing needs, challenges and opportunities in specific sectors;

Amendment 70 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3 c. Regrets that the proposal for a Sustainable Corporate Due Diligence Directive is gender-blind and calls for the incorporation of the gender perspective in the text;

Amendment 71 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the proposal for an ecodesign regulation covering textiles, the review of the Textile Labelling Regulation3 and the potential introduction of a mandatory disclosure of information; calls for the inclusion of social and labour standards in both the proposed ecodesign regulation and under labelling requirements and to be made available in digital product passports as well as made part of mandatory public procurement; is concerned about the unholistic and limited picture of product impact that the development of criteria to substantiate green claims would create if it does not consider social and gender related impacts, emphasises that such a narrow view of product sustainability is not in line with the EU’s commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals, nor the European Green Deal; _________________ 3 Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, p. 1.

Amendment 72 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the proposal for an ecodesign regulation covering textiles, the review of the Textile Labelling Regulation3 and the potential introduction of a mandatory disclosure of information; calls for the inclusion of social and labour standards in both the proposed ecodesign regulation and under labelling requirements; calls for companies in the textile industry to provide detailed information on the status of gender equality in companies throughout their supply chains , in accordance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the future Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive; _________________ 3 Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, p. 1.

Amendment 73 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the proposal for an ecodesign regulation covering textiles, the review of the Textile Labelling Regulation3 and ~~the potential introduction of a mandat~~a mandatory corporate sustainability due diligence reporting standards and reporting standards fory disclosure of information on negative impacts on the human rights and the environment; calls for the inclusion of social and labour standards in both the proposed ecodesign regulation and under labelling requirements; _________________ 3 Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, p. 1.

Amendment 74 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Welcomes the proposal for an ecodesign regulation covering textiles, the review of the Textile Labelling Regulation3 and the potential introduction of a mandatory disclosure of information; underlines that any potential introduction should commence with the largest companies within the Union; calls for ~~the~~a phased inclusion of social and labour standards in both the proposed ecodesign regulation and under labelling requirements; _________________ 3 Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, p. 1.

Amendment 75 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 76 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 77 #

Vera TAX, Maria NOICHL, Radka MAXOVÁ, Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Highlights that, in order for the digital product passport to be an effective instrument in improving social gender unequal aspects of the textile sector, it should go beyond containing information on due diligence and should also include disclosure of full product information covering the whole value chain, the existence in factories of trade unions and collective bargaining, and information on wage levels and working hours; the information on the digital product passport should be accessible to all parties and based on a common database that other stakeholders can also contribute to;

Amendment 78 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Welcomes the expected European Commission proposal to ban products made with forced labour from entering the EU market that will encompass the use of forced labour across the entire supply chain. Recalls the importance of gender mainstreaming of all EU policies.

Amendment 79 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Reiterates that compliance with due diligence obligations must be a condition for access to the internal market and that operators should be required to establish and provide evidence, through the exercise of due diligence, that the products that they place on the internal market are in conformity with the environmental and human rights criteria set out in the future due diligence legislation; highlights the prominence of SMEs in the textile sector and calls for their inclusion in the due diligence legislation; emphasises that the negative gender-related impacts cannot be avoided through the proposed due diligence legislation alone;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas there is a disproportionate number of men in leadership and managerial positions and mid-level positions in the garment workforce and gendered wage segregation in garment factories is prevalent;2a _________________ 2a https://betterwork.org/wp- content/uploads/2018/01/BW- GenderStrategy-Highlights-v4-Web.pdf

Amendment 80 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4 c. highlights in this regard that the due diligence legislation as proposed by the Commission only covers 1% of EU companies and that as the largest garment brands do not dominate the garment industry the way the largest brands do in highly concentrated industries and therefore that regulations only applying to the largest brands will not benefit the majority of the often women garment workers from the protections they are meant to provide; highlights that important conventions, multilateral agreements and human rights instruments relevant to the textile companies’ impacts need to be included in the Annex and that the current list is too limited, particularly to prevent and remedy corporate women’s rights abuses; emphasises that the requirements need to cover the whole value chain with integrated gender analyses in order be an effective instrument for the realisation of workers’ rights in the textile sector;

Amendment 81 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)

4 d. Highlights the need to strengthen efforts to incorporate social gender responsive considerations in public procurement in order to support sustainable textile production, use and end-of-life management; calls in this regard for a revision of the 2014 Directive on Public Procurement, as well as on the inclusion of socially responsible, in addition to green, public procurement under the ecodesign regulation;

Amendment 82 #

Barry ANDREWS, María Soraya RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, Michal ŠIMEČKA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to engage with civil society stakeholders, including educational actors ~~and~~, gender equality organisations, trade unions and grassroots organisations working on the ground in order to develop programmes to increase awareness about the environmental, and climate and human right impacts of the textile and garment industries. and to promote a circular economy including the development of sustainability and respect for human rights throughout the entire textile value chain;

Amendment 83 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to engage with civil society stakeholders, including educational actors and gender equality organisations, in order to develop programmes to increase awareness about the working conditions for women and girls in the global garment and textile industry, as well as the environmental and climate impact of th~~e textile and garment~~ose industries.

Amendment 84 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to engage with civil society stakeholders, including educational actors and gender equality organisations, in order to develop programmes to increase awareness about the environmental and climate impact of the textile and garment industries as well as about the human rights and sustainability impacts of the sector.

Amendment 85 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to engage with civil society stakeholders, ~~including educational actors and gender equality organisations,~~ in order to develop programmes to increase awareness about the environmental ~~and climate~~ impact of the textile and garment industries.

Amendment 86 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1 (new)

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop programmes to promote women entrepreneurship in the textile and garment industries, focusing on all aspects related to such industries, including the training, reskilling and upskilling of women of all ages involved;

Amendment 87 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Highlights that the power asymmetry between buyers and suppliers contributing to unfair trading practices have detrimental effects on labour conditions, wages and overproduction, disproportionately affecting women, especially in non-EU low-wage countries but also in producing countries inside the EU; calls for legislation to combat unfair trading practices in the textile sector, taking inspiration from and learning from the experience of the implementation of Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain;

Amendment 88 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Calls on the Member States, in accordance with the principles laid down in the circular economy action plan, to give priority to relocating the production and remanufacturing of sustainable textiles to EU territory in order to encourage the creation of quality jobs in this sector, which will benefit women in particular, and a reduction in CO2 emissions;

Amendment 89 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to protect and promote traditional expertise in the textile and garment sector, of which women are often custodians;

Amendment 9 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas women of all ages who are income recipients are more easily recognised as individuals by society and are no longer represented by their spouses, partners or families in all their diversity;

Amendment 90 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. Stresses the importance of safeguarding and preserving traditional craftsmanship, the most tangible manifestation of intangible cultural heritage, as well as establishing a gender lens to the historic role played by women in creating, maintaining and enhancing high-quality workmanship;

Amendment 91 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5 c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU and national policies and initiatives are backed by sufficient funding and to ensure reasonably easy access to credit for women; calls additionally on the Commission and the Member States to foster a hospitable environment for the creation, promotion and development of women-driven artisanal activities;

Amendment 92 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5 d. Urges the Member States to employ existing funds to ensure financial instruments, skills and performance output through education, training and advisory services, as well as increased participation in local action groups to better guarantee the participation of women in entrepreneurship in the textiles and garment industry;

Amendment 93 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)

5 e. Calls on the Commission and Member states to promote and encourage the exchange of knowledge and best practices between women entrepreneurs regarding the circularity and sustainability in the textile sector;

Amendment 94 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

5 f. Notes that sustainability and circularity should have a transversal character and should be mainstreamed into the various sectors of the industry; stresses that sustainability and circularity in the textile industry should imply capacity to make use of by-products coming from different sectors and industries that will be beneficial to women and girls;

Amendment 95 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 g (new)

5 g. Regrets that textile contact dermatitis is more common in women than in men, as the fashion created for women is notably tighter fitting and more colourful; reiterates that the risk of developing textile contact dermatitis is exacerbated by poor working conditions such as hot and humid enclosed spaces and represents a significant problem for workers within the industry; notes that the development of sustainable and circular products should take into account risks related to the health of those involved both in the production and the wearing of the final products;

Amendment 96 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 h (new)

5 h. Welcomes the fact that there are successful examples of women in the textile industries creating a commercially viable product from by-products or waste products deriving from the food sector industries or other industries;

Amendment 97 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 i (new)

5 i. Urges the Commission and Member states to develop strategies to ensure the commercial viability of eco- friendly products for women and girls; highlights the need for an overarching objective to reduce the cost of high- quality, durable and sustainable clothing and footwear so as to no longer be in a situation where bad quality and polluting clothing from third countries is the most viable, affordable option for women from disadvantaged economic backgrounds;

Amendment 98 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Pernille WEISS, Arba KOKALARI, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Christine SCHNEIDER, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 j (new)

5 j. Recalls that in the textile industry nearly 75% of women are medium to highly educated; to that end, regrets that only 38% of women hold senior officials and managers positions within the textile industry;

Amendment 99 #

Isabella ADINOLFI, Frances FITZGERALD, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Eleni STAVROU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 k (new)

5 k. Calls for comprehensive gender disaggregated data to ascertain the involvement of women in the textile industries and any potential variations or discrepancies between Member States;

source: 739.799

2022/12/16 IMCO 103 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Recital -A (new)

-A. whereas textile production and consumption in Europe has a particularly high environmental, climate and social cost, accounting for the fourth negative impact on the environment and climate change, while on an upward trend putting serious stress on available resources, especially water and other raw materials;

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas garments lifespan decreased by 36%1a; __________________ 1a A new textiles economy: redesigning fashion’s future, cited in European Environmental Agency (2022), Textiles and the environment: the role of design in Europe’s circular economy

Amendment 100 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 d (new)

9d. Stresses that the SMEs are often the frontrunners in the use of innovative and durable technologies and the ones promoting sustainable consumer behaviours, stresses the need to create a further enabling environment for such actions instead of imposing excessive obligatory measures which could curb this trend;

Amendment 101 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 d (new)

9d. The new requirements will entail costs for the companies and each requirement must be weighed against the benefit it creates;

Amendment 102 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 f (new)

9f. Underlines the importance of informing the customers about the positive impact they might have on the environment by changing their habits, for example by recycling, reusing or curbing their consumption, underlines in this respect the importance of information campaigns or tutorials on how to reuse or recycle;

Amendment 103 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 g (new)

9g. Stresses the need to support the circular business models through a combination of policy measures with a particular emphasis on second-hand resale;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)

Ac. whereas market analyses show there is a gap between the intend and the purchasing behaviour, where many consumers still prioritize the price over quality and sustainability;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas ~~fragmented and~~highly complex, non- transparent and fragmented value -chains at a global level in the garment sector further complicates the work of market surveillance authorities, consumers associations as well as resellers by hindering compliance with relevant Union law ~~and~~on quality of products as well as on manufacturing conditions, including on forced labour, and by weakening the accountability of economic operators;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas ~~fragmented and non- transparent~~ value chains in the garment sector ~~hinder compliance with relevant Union law and weaken the accountability of economic operators~~are complex and non- linear which makes it a challenge for economic operators and market surveillance authorities alike to ensure compliance with relevant Union law;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas value chains in the garment sector are characterized by a strong unequal balance of power between international companies/brands towards their suppliers/towards their workers; and whereas workers - being at the last step of the value chain - usually end up getting the most negatively impacted; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic was a strong reminder of such inequalities;

Amendment 15 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas non-harmonised legislation leads to a fragmented market and bureaucratic burdens that increases the difficulties on the sector especially on the SMEs working in the sector;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated unfair trading practices in the textile sector1a, revealing the profound power imbalances along textile value chains; __________________ 1a https://news.industriall- europe.eu/documents/upload/2021/9/6376 84400585561764_210106%20Draft%20Le veraging%20UTP%20transposition_2021 0927.pdf

Amendment 17 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas well-informed choices can help drive demand to quality clothes, less damageable for the environment and a supply chain that respect nature and workers;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas supporting a vibrant and dynamic textile sector is strategic for the value chains and the competitiveness of the internal market;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas the textile production sector, represented mostly by SMEs, was already under a lot of stress from social dumping due to very low production costs in third countries, more difficulties were added by the Covid-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, the inflation and the economic and social effects of the war in Ukraine;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas 79% of consumers agreed that it is important for brands to share detailed information about the environmental impact of their products, and a majority of them are willing to pay more and ready to change their purchasing patterns for sustainable options ~~but can be misled by greenwashing practices~~, provided that clear and reliable labels are at their disposal;

Amendment 20 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas the textiles/garment production is a major contributor to climate change and one of the greatest producers of waste;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas the long tradition and experience of European textile companies has a priceless value for the European historical heritage;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas the bureaucratic burden and difficulties in registering new fibres and technologies are hindering the research and innovation that could lead to the development of a sustainable and durable sector;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)

Bd. whereas the transition to a sustainable sector will have a major impact on the costs of the textiles that will have to be covered by both the consumers and SMEs;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Recital B e (new)

Be. whereas the online marketplaces function as a gate into the Single Market for many textiles that do not respect the legislation regarding chemicals in the European Union;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls the paramount importance of protecting consumers by addressing misleading claims and greenwashing practices, by immediately withdrawing of the market textile products that do not respect Union law, and by putting more surveillance especially on regular offenders being entities or region of production;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls the paramount importance of protecting consumers by addressing over-use of plastic and chemicals in garments and misleading claims, and immediately withdrawing products that do not respect Union laws;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls the paramount importance of protecting consumers by addressing misleading claims that do not comply with Union or national consumer protection law and immediately withdrawing such products ~~that do not respect Union law~~;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Underlines the importance of protecting the consumers from price escalation due to abrupt and radical changes of legislation and the necessity of swift adaptation of the production processes; calls for both impact assessments and market analyses to accompany the sustainability legislation;

Amendment 29 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Emphasises the importance of sending the information regarding the mandatory Ecodesign requirements to the retailers so that the consumers can be properly advised;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas consumers arseem to be ready to change their purchasing patterns for sustainable options ~~but can be misled by greenwashing practice~~when duly informed about sustainability and origin of the products;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 32 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls for the implementation of a trusted-flagger alert and notification mechanism and of an appropriate European redress mechanism for consumers affected by misleading labels and textiles that do not comply with Union law; considers it necessary to organise and implement better and harmonised surveillance of the internal market, with specific customs controls to prevent the import of counterfeit and/or unsafe textiles which do not conform to the expressly stated requirements for those who produce and operate within the EU and to protect consumers and the environment;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls for stricter customs controls to avoid the import of counterfeit and unsafe textile products or goods without the specific requirements to be sold in the internal market; calls for the implementation of a trusted-flagger alert and notification mechanism and of an appropriate European redress mechanism for consumers affected by misleading labels and textiles that do not comply with Union law;

Amendment 34 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Calls in this regard for the implementation of a trusted-flagger alert and notification mechanism ~~and~~, of an appropriate European redress mechanism and the possibility of enhanced collective redress for consumers affected by misleading labels and by textile products that do not comply with Union law;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Calls for the establishment of pre- approval schemes for sustainability labels and sustainability information tools by competent national authorities to protect consumers from misleading advertising and greenwashing;

Amendment 36 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Regrets the repeated delays in the presentation of the long-awaited Commission’s proposal on substantiating green claims;

Amendment 37 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2c. Welcomes the announced initiatives to strengthen consumer information regarding durability, reusability, reparability and recyclability of textile products;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the introduction of the digital product passport in the proposal for a regulation on ecodesign requirements for sustainable products; calls for this important tool to aim for full transparency and reliable information to consumers as well as intermediaries; believes that in order to be relevant, this passport needs to be available on the product itself and be easy to read; favours open, easily accessible, regularly updated and trustworthy data ensuring traceability ~~down to factory level~~along the whole supply chain down to factory level on the components and substances, with particular attention to chemicals, used in their products; considers that a social labelling for textiles including on the working conditions of production should be added in the digital passport;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the introduction of the digital product passport in the proposal for a regulation on ecodesign requirements for sustainable products which embeds traceability as well as social (i.e. human rights and labour rights) information; believes that in order to be relevant this passport needs to be available on the product itself and be easy to read; favours open and trustworthy data ensuring traceability down to factory level; welcomes that the UNECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) approved in 2021 a set of standards on Traceability and transparency of sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear sector; encourages its uptake by EU-based companies;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas studies indicate that consumers are ~~ready~~willing to change their purchasing patterns for sustainable options but ~~can be misled by greenwashing practices~~are sensitive to price increase;

Amendment 40 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the introduction of the digital product passport in the proposal for a regulation on ecodesign requirements for sustainable products; believes that in order to be relevant this passport needs to be available on the product itself and be easy to read; ~~favours open and trustworthy data ensuring traceability down to factory level;~~ believes that value chains are non-linear and include many intermediaries, including bulk-trading of raw materials on commodity stock exchanges, and therefore, traceability requirements must be proportionate, reasonable and implementable;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the introduction of the digital product passport in the proposal for a regulation on ecodesign requirements for sustainable products; believes that in order to be relevant this passport needs to be ~~available on the product itself and be~~ easy to read; favours open and trustworthy data ensuring traceability ~~down to factory level~~; emphasises that any action that could increase red tape for producers should be avoided and calls for stronger support for SMEs in this sector;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Welcomes the introduction of the digital product passport in the proposal for a regulation on ecodesign requirements for sustainable products, provided that the initiative does not create more bureaucracy for producers; believes that in order to be relevant this passport needs to be available on the product itself and be easy to read; favours open and trustworthy data ensuring traceability down to factory level;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport can further enhance reliability and coherence among new and goes hand in hand with the simplification of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information on the environmental and social footprint of products, and on the country where manufacturing processes take place (‘made in’), without prejudice to, and building on, existing certification schemes covering sustainability aspects such as repairability and durability; believes that enhanced supply chain traceability can encourage circular retail and consumption models like the resale and reuse of textile products;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport goes hand in hand with the simplification of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information on the environmental and social footprint of products; that is one of the key element in the transition to a circular and more sustainable textile economy, notes that false and misleading environmental, circular and social claims on products should be prevented , and to ensure that underlying analysis is based on standard methodologies.

Amendment 46 #

Biljana BORZAN, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport goes hand in hand with the simplification of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information on the environmental and social footprint of products; regrets in this regard the postponement by the European Commission of the ‘Green Claims’ proposal in the last Circular Economy Package, which is a missed opportunity to empower consumers and inform them about the content of the products they purchase;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport ~~goes hand in hand with the simplification of existing labels to~~must ensure that consumers receive coherent ~~and~~, reliable and comprehensive information on the environmental and social footprint of products, including human rights and environmental impacts throughout their value chain, as well as on their origin, circularity performance, and material and chemical content; in this regard, calls for ensuring transparency and credibility of and accountability for labels;

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport goes hand in hand with the simplification of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information on the environmental and social footprint of products; the introduction of such an instrument should enable micro-enterprises and SMEs to better communicate their sustainability, without creating excessive costs and administrative and bureaucratic burdens;

Amendment 49 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport goes hand in hand with the simplification and harmonisation of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information on the environmental and social footprint of products and that the costs and bureaucracy of labelling are minimized;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas many consumers are ready to change their purchasing patterns for sustainable options but can be misled by greenwashing practices;

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport goes hand in hand with the simplification of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information ~~on the environmental and social footprint of produc~~in line with the requirements to be specified by the proposal for a regulation on eco-design requirements;

Amendment 51 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Believes that the digital product passport ~~goes hand in hand with~~is conducive to the simplification of existing labels to ensure that consumers receive coherent and reliable information on the environmental and social footprint of products;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Welcomes the proposed ban of the destruction of unsold goods, stresses that for it to be effective in tackling overproduction, the ban should be as wide as possible, encompassing all types of businesses, including SME;

Amendment 53 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Encourages initiatives to help consumers switch to more sustainable and responsible consumption patterns by providing quality products at an affordable price and reducing waste through inter alia repair, collection of used clothes, pay back schemes, second hand sells, renting options, clothes swapping as well as initiatives by producers to produce sturdy clothes, with extended warrantees and easy to recycle clothes;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Encourages initiatives to help consumers switch to more sustainable consumption patterns by providing quality products at an affordable price and reducing waste, without affecting competitiveness and offering more choices to the consumers;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Encourages initiatives to help consumers switch to more sustainable consumption patterns by providing quality products at an affordable price ~~and~~that are designed to last longer, thereby reducing waste;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Encourages initiatives to help consumers switch to more sustainable consumption patterns by providing quality products at an a~~ffordabl~~ppropriate price and reducing waste;

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Recalls that an increase of the production cost on the producers in the European Union, mostly SMEs, might lead to even more fragilisation of the sector and counteract the European economic autonomy that proved crucial during the Covid-19-pandemic; stresses the importance of a continuous dialogue with the sector and joined solutions for a realistic, feasible, and efficient sustainable transformation of the sector, as well as coherent legislation and achievable targets;

Amendment 58 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that textile producers and brands should be drivers of sustainability by being transparent in their practices ~~and respecting human rights and the environment~~, respecting human rights and the environment as well as the tradition of high quality European products; recalls the importance of incentivising the use of all natural and ecological fibres and textile raw materials, facilitating research and innovation and providing flexibility in registering new alternative fibres, technologies and production processes in the sector;

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that textile producers and brands should be drivers of sustainability by being transparent in their practices and respecting human rights and the environment; believes that these goals could be also achieved supporting the value chain, promoting reshoring in EU of delocalized productions, lowering burdens, promoting the textile value chain with incentives and creating a clear and efficient legal framework for companies and customers;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas fast-fashion models encourages mass consumption of poor quality clothes, often unrecyclable, at the expense of workers' social rights, luring consumers through greenwashing practices such as false environmental claims and in-house misleading labels;

Amendment 60 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that textile producers and brands ~~should be drivers of sustainability by being transparent in their practices and respecting human rights and the environment~~are part of the drive towards more sustainability in the textiles sector; believes that consumer demand and consumer purchasing power play an equally important role in changing consumption patterns;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Believes that textile producers and brands, including luxury and haute- couture brands, should be drivers of sustainability by being transparent in their practices all along their value chains and respecting human rights and the environment;

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

~~7. Stresses that fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices;~~deleted

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that the business model of fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers, which are often SMEs, and their workforce through unfair trading practices;, including late payment, short-term delivery times, and important cost pressure. Those practices cannot be viewed as enduring as they forbid decent living wages, can encourage the violation of human rights and international labour law and are environmentally inadequate particularly through the destruction of unsold goods; calls in this respect for a legislative proposal tackling unfair trade practices in the textile sector, drawing inspiration from the UTP Directive existing for the agri-food sector.

Amendment 64 #

Biljana BORZAN, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices (UTPs); highlights the power asymmetry between brands and their suppliers contributing to unfair trading practices, such as unilaterally cancelling contracts or buying below production costs, that have detrimental effects on labour conditions in often non-EU low-wage countries, calls for a legislative proposal to combat unfair trading practices in the textiles sector, learning from the experience of the implementation of Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain;

Amendment 65 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices; such as late payments, unilateral changes, negotiation of unreasonable low prices, below-cost selling, last-minute confirmation, cancellation or changes of orders, or unreasonable penalties for late deliveries; calls for regulatory measures at EU and national level to combat unfair trading practices; calls for ensuring that market surveillance authorities have a mandate to enforce these measures;

Amendment 66 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices; in this regard, the strategic value of the supply chain should be boosted, favouring to the greatest extent possible a sustainable production model as opposed to the ‘throw-away’ model, combining creative capacity and production systems based on the quality of processes, materials and finishes;

Amendment 67 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that some fast fashion companies located outside the EU contribute to puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices;

Amendment 68 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce ~~through~~, possibly resulting in unfair trading practices;

Amendment 69 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses that "fast fashion" phenomena puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas the textile sector includes over 160 000 producers, most of them SMEs, that have to respect 16 pieces of European legislation, several implementation methods and national legislation in 27 Member States;

Amendment 70 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Stress~~Believes that ~~fast fashion puts enormous stress on suppliers and their workforce through unfair trading practices~~the effect of "fast fashion" on supply chains and consumptions patterns requires further study;

Amendment 71 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Welcomes that the European Commission presented a EU textile strategy in line with the European green deal and the circular economy action plan; underlines in this context that especially the fast fashion sector is not sustainable as it evidently produces more than needed, which makes it essential to consider production reduction and recycling targets;

Amendment 72 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Stresses that low quality garments lead to a low lifecycle of the products and increase the textile waste; calls therefore that the industry receives sufficient support to adopt optional classification of the textiles based on durability and sustainability;

Amendment 73 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Welcomes the announced efforts to promote circular business models, such as products as service models, take-back services, second hand collections and repair services;

Amendment 74 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)

7b. Recalls that creativity and innovation are important components to the textile industry and in order to safeguard these components, the recycling requirements and future sustainable legislation should keep into account intellectual property rights, encouraging and incentivizing the creators to recycle the unsold products rather than destroy them;

Amendment 75 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)

7b. Calls on the Commission to encourage Member States to locally develop repair and upcycling as well as innovative selling practices to boost reuse;

Amendment 76 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)

7c. Encourages the measures aiming at promotion of promoting green and transferable skills and lifelong learning opportunities in the textiles sectors, highlights the importance of social enterprises in this context;

Amendment 77 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 d (new)

7d. Calls on the Commission to encourage Member States to introduce incentives for the repair and sale of second-hand supply of textile goods and services;

Amendment 78 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

~~8. Calls for mandatory criteria on responsible consumption to apply to public procurement;~~deleted

Amendment 79 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

~~8. Calls for mandatory criteria on responsible consumption to apply to public procurement;~~deleted

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas textile production doubled between 2000 and 20151a; __________________ 1a European Commission (2022), EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles

Amendment 80 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for public procurement purchases to show the lead through mandatory criteria oin responsible consumption toand to favour sustainable tenders with quality and eco-designed products as well as socially and environmentally responsible production conditions, and calls to flag multiple- offenders actors and prohibit them from applying to ~~public procurement;~~ tenders; calls for a revision of the 2014/24/EU Directive on public procurement in order to align it with the upcoming European due diligence legal framework;

Amendment 81 #

Biljana BORZAN, Maria GRAPINI, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. C~~alls for mandatory criteria on responsible consumption to apply to public procurement~~onsiders that public authorities should drive the development of more sustainable textiles and circular business models and aim to reduce environmental impact of textiles when making public purchases; encourage the public authorities to use EU green public procurement criteria for textile products and service; Calls on the Commission for an impact assessment as regards the need for the mandatory green public procurement criteria for the textile products;

Amendment 82 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for mandatory environmental and social criteria on responsible consumption to apply to public procurement; calls for the promotion of reserved contracts for social enterprises in public tenders;

Amendment 83 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for ~~mandatory~~transparent criteria onfor a responsible consumption to applyied to public procurement, avoiding fragmentation of the internal market;

Amendment 84 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for ~~mandatory~~transparent criteria on responsible consumption to apply to public procurement to avoid market fragmentation;

Amendment 85 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for European mandatory ~~criteria on responsible consumption to apply to~~green, socially responsible and sustainable public procurement criteria for textiles;

Amendment 86 #

Biljana BORZAN, Brando BENIFEI, Marc ANGEL, René REPASI, Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES, Adriana MALDONADO LÓPEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Recalls the importance of creating a feasible and sustainable recycling ecosystem, that includes SMEs and other economic actors, where the textiles and textile fibres are reused and recycled in both classic and innovative manners, transforming the recycling sector into to a profitable, environmentally-friendly industry;

Amendment 87 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Recalls the paramount importance of ensuring that market surveillance authorities have sufficient human and financial resources at their disposal, calls for the development of tools for individuals and organisations to flag non- compliant products to market surveillance authorities; calls for greater transparency of customs data to enable better enforcement by market surveillance authorities and improve consumer information, including by revising the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013).

Amendment 88 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Recalls the paramount importance of ensuring that market surveillance authorities have sufficient human and financial resources at their disposal; calls the Member States for a stronger market enforcement including extra human resources, more frequent controls, dissuasive penalties for the infringements, to ensure that products placed on the EU market, including via imports and e- commerce, meet minimum environmental and social standards and fits our objectives.

Amendment 89 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Recalls the paramount importance of ensuring that market surveillance authorities have sufficient human and financial resources at their disposal. and that sufficient facilities and resources are in place to perform and increase proper chemical controls on national and regional levels in order to ensure consumer protection regarding the chemical substances limits in garments, especially in the products bought online from third country producers.

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)

Ab. whereas many producers from the textile industry expressed their interest in developing more sustainable and durable textiles and production technologies, willing to cooperate and find feasible solutions to the challenges brought by the Green Deal;

Amendment 90 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Recalls the paramount importance of ensuring that market surveillance authorities have sufficient human and financial resources at their disposal in particular to fight against counterfeit products and ensure proper application of Union law through regular and random checks for textile products entering and made available on the internal market.

Amendment 91 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Recalls the paramount importance of ensuring that market surveillance authorities ~~have sufficient human and financial resources~~are adequately staffed with well-prepared personnel and have sufficient financial resources and means of verification at their disposal.

Amendment 92 #

Isabella TOVAGLIERI, Alessandra BASSO, Markus BUCHHEIT, Virginie JORON, Jean-Lin LACAPELLE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Underlines that increasing the durability of textiles has a significant impact on the environment while at the same time creates the money-saving opportunities for customers, calls in this respect for measures to support research in sustainable textiles;

Amendment 93 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Recalls the need to support the EU textile value chain, which actively contribute to the EU competitiveness, while at the same time defending it from external unfair practices, which are also distortive of the internal market;

Amendment 94 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. In order for textile recycling to increase, there must be financial incentives to recycle.

Amendment 95 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9b. Notes that certain multi- stakeholder initiatives and certifications or private labels concerning sustainability have shown shortcomings in the past, notes that important retailers were lately sanctioned for greenwashing in these types of initiatives; calls therefore for publicly strictly controlled audited initiatives and certifications;

Amendment 96 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9b. Stresses the necessity of securing policy coherence and ensuring harmonisation at the EU level, including on data requirements and methodologies of all the EU policy initiatives announced in the Strategy;

Amendment 97 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9b. The Commission should create guidelines and support services to ensure that the bureaucracy resulting from this legislation does not become too burdensome, especially for SMEs;

Amendment 98 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 c (new)

9c. Underlines the potential of e- labelling, which would provide the consumers with detailed knowledge on the textile, including care advice and the information on repair and recycle options; underlines however that e-labels cannot replace the physical labels, which should continue to provide the basic information on care and composition;

Amendment 99 #