SUMMARY:

• The European Commission has announced a forthcoming consultation on a planned Implementing Regulation establishing a harmonised format for the registration of producers of certain textile, textile-related and footwear products under the Waste Framework Directive (WFD). Members can find the consolidated directive attached.
• The initiative follows Art. 22b of the WFD, which requires Member States to establish national registers of producers and require producers to register in each Member State where they make relevant products available on the market for the first time.
• The Commission’s feedback period is currently in preparation. Adoption of the Implementing Act (IA) is planned for the second quarter of 2027.

MORE INFORMATION:
Under the WFD, Member States will be required to establish registers of producers of textile, textile-related and footwear products covered by Annex IVc. Producers will be required to register in each Member State where they make such products available on the market for the first time.

Registration will therefore be a condition for placing these products on the relevant national market.

The planned Implementing Regulation will establish a harmonised registration format, based on the information requirements already set out in the WFD. In accordance with Article 22b of the WFD, the framework covers:

• The establishment of registers of producers (paragraph 1);
• The obligation for producers to register (par. 2);
• The information to be included in registration applications (par. 4);
• Provisions relating to producer responsibility organisations and authorised representatives (par. 3, 5, 8); and
• Provisions concerning competent authorities (par. 6, 7).
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The harmonised registration format is intended to facilitate compliance for producers making products available across multiple EU Member States. In parallel, the Commission will establish a website providing links to all national producer registers. Information in each register will be required to be easily accessible, publicly available and free of charge, as well as machine-readable, sortable and searchable. Registers will also be required to respect open standards for third-party use, while preserving the confidentiality of commercially and industrially sensitive information.

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The WFD further provides that registration applications are to be submitted electronically and that competent authorities must issue a registration number within a maximum period of 12 weeks once the required information has been provided.
The Implementing Act is expected to be published in the second quarter of 2027.

NEXT STEPS:

The Commission’s consultation on the planned Implementing Act is still in preparation.

We will monitor the publication of the consultation and provide a more detailed analysis of the draft Act once it is published for feedback.

Further information will be shared with members as soon as available.