EUDR on the agenda at Lineapelle
EU Deforestation Regulation soon to become a reality
A meeting held on the second day of the three-day Lineapelle Milano event focused on the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is set to come into effect on 31 December on a much broader range of commodities than just cowhides. The Leather Traceability Cluster (LTC) was launched by COTANCE at Lineapelle in September 2022, inviting organisations with private leather standards to join and cooperate in this initiative to develop the essential requirements for leather traceability. This pioneering milestone is the result of a fruitful cooperation where Quality Certification Institute for the Leather Sector (ICEC), Leather Working Group (LWG), Oeko-Tex® and Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF) are developing a common standard that creates an alignment of traceability requirements for the sector, allowing mutual recognition of traceability assessments without the need for repeat inspections and related additional unproductive costs.
Traceability of leather back to the place of birth of cattle, sheep or goats, whose hides go into the tanning process, and transparency in the supply chain have become imperative on the EU market, as legislation and customers require supply chains to provide information to consumers on how, by whom, and where products are made. Animal welfare, deforestation, and child or forced labour are some of the ethical considerations that lay behind this growing trend. However, traceability constitutes a particular challenge for the leather industry, as hides and skins obtain their identity separately from the animal at the slaughterhouse, and, as by-products, information on the previous lifecycle is lost in the vast majority of cases around the globe. These elements are to be submitted to official standardisation so as to be mutually recognised and referenced by regulators.
The common standard will list the minimum essential elements of traceability, and the corresponding evidence of verification that should be present in a reliable traceability system. This includes three compliance levels; the first applies to all types of leather, the second supports the cattle supply chain’s compliance with the EUDR, and the third attaches additional sustainability performance requirements. The success of the COTANCE initiative, which organised monthly meetings in 2023 and 2024, soon triggered the interest of CEN standardisation experts, NGOs, industry associations and other stakeholders, who all signed up the Terms of Reference governing the activities of the LTC alliance.