European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations 2010.

• Statutory Instrument No.: 485/2010
• Published date: 12 October 2010

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 12th October, 2010.

I, BATT O’KEEFFE, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to Directive 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January 20091 and Commission Directive No. 2009/121/EC of 14 September 20092 , hereby make the following regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Names and Labelling of Textile Products) Regulations 2010.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Regulations—

“Act of 2007” means the Consumer Protection Act 2007 (No. 19 of 2007);

“Agency” means the National Consumer Agency established by section 7 of the Act of 2007;

“Annex” means Annex I, II, III, IV or V, as the case may be, to the Directive;

“Article” means an Article of the Directive;

“authorised officer” means an authorised officer referred to in Regulation 18(1);

“consumer” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2007;

“Directive” means Directive 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January 20091.

“person or body governed by public law” means a person or body established in the State for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, and financed for the most part by one or more than one of the following:

(a) the State;

(b) a regional authority;

(c) a local authority;

(d) any other body governed by public law;

(e) a body that is subject to management supervision by one or more than one of the bodies referred to in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d);

(f) a body having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by one or more than one of the bodies referred to in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d);

“premises” includes railway wagon, vehicle, ship, vessel or aircraft;

“sell” includes barter, offer or expose for sale or invite an offer to treat and “sale” shall be construed accordingly;

“third countries” means countries or territories outside the geographical territory of—

(a) the European Union, and

(b) the European Economic Area (within the meaning assigned to it by the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992).

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and which is also used in the Directive has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Directive.

Application of these Regulations to textile products

3. (1) Textile products and products referred to in Regulation 5 may be marketed, either before or during their industrial processing or at any of the distribution stages, only where such products comply with these Regulations and the Directive.

(2) These Regulations shall not apply to textile products which—

(a) are intended for export from the State to third countries,

(b) enter the State, under customs control, for transit purposes,

(c) are imported into the State from third countries for inward processing, or

(d) are contracted out to persons working in their own homes situated in the State, or to independent firms established in the State, that make up work from materials supplied without the property therein being transferred for consideration.

Language

4. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) and to the conditions contained in Article 8 (2) and (3), the labelling and marking required by that Article shall, when textile products or products referred to in Regulation 5 are offered for sale or sold in the State to the end consumer, be given in the Irish language or the English language.

(2) In the case of bobbins, reels, skeins, balls or any other small quantity of sewing, mending and embroidery yarns, the requirement in paragraph (1) applies only in respect of inclusive labelling on packaging or displays. Without prejudice to the cases referred to in item 18 of Annex IV, individual items may be labelled in the Irish language or the English language.

Products which are treated the same way as textile products

5. The following shall be treated in the same way as textile products and shall be subject to these Regulations:

(a) products containing at least 80 per cent by weight of textile fibres;

(b) furniture, umbrella and sunshade coverings containing at least 80 per cent by weight of textile components, the textile components of multi-layer floor coverings, mattresses and camping goods, and warm linings of footwear, gloves, mittens and mitts, provided such coverings, components or linings, as the case may be, constitute at least 80 per cent by weight of the complete article;

(c) textiles incorporated in other products and forming an integral part thereof, where their composition is specified.

Fibre Names

6. (1) The names and descriptions of fibres referred to in the definition of “textile fibre” in Article 2(1)(b) and in Regulation 5 are listed in Annex I.

(2) Use of the names appearing in the table in Annex I shall be reserved for fibres the nature of which is specified under the same item of that table.

(3) None of those names may be used for any other fibre, whether on their own or as an adjective or as a root, in any language whatsoever.

(4) The word “silk” may not be used to indicate the shape or particular presentation in continuous yarn of textile fibres.

Textile Description

7. (1) No textile product or product referred to in Regulation 5 may be described as “100 per cent”, “pure” or “all” unless it is exclusively composed of the same fibre; no similar term may be used.

(2) A textile product or a product referred to in Regulation 5 may contain up to 2 per cent by weight of other fibres, provided this quantity is justified on technical grounds and is not added as a matter of routine. This tolerance shall be increased to 5 per cent in the case of textile products and products referred to in Regulation 5 which have undergone a carding process.

Wool Products

8. (1) A wool product may be described with one of the names referred to in Annex II, provided that it is composed exclusively of a fibre which has not previously been incorporated in a finished product, which has not been subjected to any spinning or felting processes other than those required in the manufacture of that product, and which has not been damaged by treatment or use.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the names referred to in Annex II may be used to describe wool contained in a fibre mixture when—

(a) all the wool contained in that mixture satisfies the requirements laid down in paragraph 1,

(b) that wool accounts for not less than 25 per cent of the total weight of the mixture, or

(c) in the case of a scribbled mixture, the wool is mixed with only one other fibre.

In a case referred to in this paragraph, the full percentage composition must be given.

(3) The tolerance justified on technical grounds connected with manufacture shall be limited to 0.3 per cent of fibrous impurities in the case of the products referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, including wool products which have undergone a carding process.

Mixed fibre textiles

9. (1) A textile product or a product referred to in Regulation 5 composed of two or more fibres, one of which accounts for at least 85 per cent of the total weight, shall be designated by one of the following:

(a) the name of the latter fibre followed by its percentage by weight;

(b) the name of the latter fibre followed by the words “85 per cent minimum”; or

(c) the full percentage composition of the product.

(2) A textile product or a product referred to in Regulation 5 composed of two or more fibres, none of which accounts for as much as 85 per cent of the total weight, shall be designated by the name and percentage by weight of at least the two main fibres, followed by the names of the other constituent fibres in descending order of weight, with or without an indication of their percentage by weight; however—

(a) fibres which separately account for less than 10 per cent of the total weight of a product may be collectively designated by the term “other fibres”, followed by the total percentage by weight, and

(b) where the name of a fibre, which accounts for less than 10 per cent of the total weight of a product, is specified, the full percentage composition of that product shall be given.

(3) Products having a pure cotton warp and a pure flax weft, in which the percentage of flax accounts for not less than 40 per cent of the total weight of the unsized fabric, may be given the name “cotton linen union” which must be accompanied by the compo-sition specification “pure cotton warp-pure flax weft”.

(4) The term “mixed fibres” or the term “unspecified textile composition” may be used for any product the composition of which cannot easily be stated at the time of manufacture.

Tolerance

10.( 1) In the case of textile products or products referred to in Regulation 5 intended for the end consumer, in the percentage compositions specified in Regulation 9—

(a) a quantity of extraneous fibres of up to 2 per cent of the total weight of the textile product shall be tolerated, provided that this quantity is justified on technical grounds and is not added as a matter of routine; this tolerance shall be increased to 5 per cent in the case of products which have undergone a carding process and shall be without prejudice to the tolerance referred to in Regulation 8(3),

(b) a manufacturing tolerance of 3 per cent shall be permitted between the stated fibre...