COTANCE calls on European Commission to follow Italy’s example
The leather industry’s representative body in the European Union, COTANCE, has said a new law protecting the identity and authenticity of leather in Italy should apply across all 27 member states. As well as Italy, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Lithuania and Spain have similar measures in place. Portugal and Hungary are working on parallel initiatives at the moment.
Current COTANCE president, Andreas Kindermann, the chief executive of Wollsdorf Leather in Austria, welcomed the development and said it would put an end to a practice that has allowed companies making and selling synthetic alternatives to hide the real composition of their products behind the good name of leather.
“I only regret that the European Union has not yet granted leather this protection across all member states, while it does so for the textile sector and milk products,” Mr Kindermann added.
European Union (EU) regulations ensure the correct designation of textile materials, COTANCE said, while consumers are exposed to “a myriad of deceptive commercial practices” in their purchases of articles sold as leather. COTANCE has estimated that these practices are costing European tanners €1.7 billion per year from the loss of business. This represents 20% of the entire leather sector turnover in the EU.
COTANCE called on the European Commissioner for enterprise and the internal market, Thierry Breton, to adopt an EU-wide regulation on the use of the term ‘leather’ as part of industry support measures following the covid-19 lockdown.
