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🇫🇷 AGEC Law Article 13 - all you need to know

The AGEC law, which stands for the Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy law, is an extension of Article L. 541-10-1 of the Environmental Code and aims to reduce waste and promote the circular economy by imposing environmental transparency and waste management obligations on companies

The AGEC law, which stands for the Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy law, is an extension of Article L. 541-10-1 of the Environmental Code and aims to reduce waste and promote the circular economy by imposing environmental transparency and waste management obligations on companies. It applies to a range of goods including new textile clothing products, footwear, and household linen for individuals, and new textile products for homes as of January 1, 2020. Furniture, upholstered seats, bedding products, and textile decoration articles are also covered. This law applies to all entities engaged in commercial activities in France, including:

  • Producers
  • Importers
  • Distributors
  • Other entities that market waste-generating products to consumers, including those using websites, platforms, or other online distribution channels.

The new implementing decree of Article 13 of the AGEC law, published in the Official Journal of the French Republic (JORF) on April 30, 2022, mandates brands to provide consumers with information about:

  • Traceability, which is the path taken by the product during its manufacturing.
  • Risks of releasing plastic microfibers related to the use of synthetic materials.
  • Presence of hazardous substances.
  • Presence of recycled materials and the recyclability of the product.
  • Presence of a bonus or penalties linked to the Eco-modulation and the extended responsibility of producers

The obligations to adhere to in a nutshell:

The AGEC law addresses several aspects, from greenwashing to recyclability, and introduces fundamental questions for the fashion industry within a well-defined legislative framework. What are the key takeaways?

Prohibited Claims

The AGEC law prohibits the use of terms such as "biodegradable," "environmentally friendly," or any equivalent environmental claims on products or packaging, starting from May 1st for entities with annual turnover exceeding 10 million euros.

Disclosure of Recycled Material Quantity

For textiles and shoes, excluding leather products, brands are obliged to indicate the overall proportion, by weight, of recycled materials in the product. This information is displayed as "product containing at least [%] of recycled materials."

Disclosure of Microplastic Presence

If the percentage of synthetic fibers in a product exceeds 50%, brands must disclose the presence of microplastics with the statement "this article releases plastic microfibers into the environment during washing."

Indication of Manufacturing Operations

For textiles and shoes, brands must indicate the primary country where the main production steps take place. For textiles, this concerns the fabric manufacturing (weaving/knitting), finishing (dyeing, printing) and garment manufacturing stages. For footwear, the stages considered are stitching, assembly and finishing.

Mention of Recyclability

For recyclable products, characteristics include effective territorial collection, sorting capability, absence of hindrances to recycling and recycled materials comprising over 50% of collected waste.

Disclosure of Hazardous Substances

Substances with a mass percentage exceeding 0.1% are deemed hazardous. The product must bear the label "contains a hazardous substance" or "contains an extremely concerning substance," supplemented with the names of the hazardous substances present.

Accessibility of information Information must be made available to consumers at the time of purchase, via a dematerialized medium accessible free of charge.

Mention of Eco-modulation

Brands must indicate rewards or penalties received or paid for its product based on environmental performance criteria. Refashion, the French eco-organization in the textile sector, has established three eco-modulations, implemented starting from January 1st, 2023:

  1. Sustainability Reward: for products that meet sustainability criteria defined by the type of textile product.
  2. Environmental Label Rewards: for products with one of the following labels: Ecocert Textile, Oeko-tex Made in Green, Bluesign, Fairtrade, European Ecolabel, Demeter, GOTS, BioRe.
  3. Recycled Material Reward: for using recycled material from post-consumer waste collected by Refashion or another authorized eco-organization.

💡 What's next for brands?

The timeline for compliance with these obligations is as follows:

  • Obligation from January 1, 2023, for entities with an annual turnover exceeding 50 million euros and responsible for placing at least 25,000 units on the national market annually.
  • Obligation from January 1, 2024, for entities with an annual turnover exceeding 20 million euros and responsible for placing at least 10,000 units of such products on the national market each year.
  • Obligation from January 1, 2025, for entities with an annual turnover exceeding 10 million euros and responsible for placing at least 10,000 units of such products on the national market annually.