Italy Approved the New Regulation on Leather Material and Product Labelling
AUGUST 2020 – RELEVANT FOR: HARDLINES, SOFTLINES
On 28 May 2020, the Council of Ministers of Italy approved the new legislative Decree No. 68 of 9 June 20201, on the definition and use of various terminologies related to leather materials. The decree also specifies the labelling and marking requirements for such leather materials and products made of it.
However, this decree does not apply to footwear which is regulated under the Directive 94/11/EC of the European Union2.
Following are the terminologies defined in the new Decree must be used for labelling or marking of such materials and products. These definitions are also in-line with the definition as given in the Directive 94/11/EC.
| Terminology |
Definition |
Leather
(‘cuoio’, ‘pelle’) |
- Hide or skin with its original fibrous structure more or less intact,
- Tanned to prevent rotting, hair or wool may or may not have been removed,
- May have been split into layers or segmented either before or after tanning,
- Coating, if applied, must not be thicker than 0.15 mm.
|
Full grain leather
(‘cuoio pieno fiore’) |
- Leather, as defined above, which keep its original grain surface as exposed by removal of the epidermis and with none of the surface removed by buffing, snuffing or splitting.
|
Coated Leather
(‘cuoio rivestito’, ‘pelle rivestita’) |
- Leather with surface coating that does not exceed one third of the total thickness but more than 0.15 mm.
|
Fur
(‘pelliccia’) |
- Leather, as defined above, that retain their natural fur or wool on it.
|
Bonded leather fibre
(‘rigenerato di fibre di cuoio’)
|
- Material that contains, a minimum of 50% by weight, the tanned hide or skin that is disintegrated mechanically and/or chemically into fibrous particles, small pieces or powders and then, with or without the combination of a binding agent, is transformed into sheets.
|
The decree also prohibits the use of the above terminologies (in any languages) even as prefixes or suffixes with other words to identify materials not having animal origin but synthetic or other alternative materials.
The decree will become effective from 24 October 2020 and repeal the previous Decree No. 1112 of 16 December 1966.
However, the materials and products placed on the market before entry into force of this new decree and labelled according to the previous decree can be sold till 23 October 2022.
[1] The Legislative Decree No. 68 of 9 June 2020
[2] Directive 94/11/EC of European Union
