Industry groups warn against state-run producer responsibility models in EU textile EPR

A coalition of European industry organisations, including EURATEX, Landbell Group and the Global Fashion Agenda, has issued a joint statement raising concerns over a growing shift in some EU Member States toward state-run Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) within new and emerging Extended Producer Responsibility schemes.

The signatories argue that moving responsibility away from producer-led governance risks weakening core EPR principles, reducing incentives for investment and eco-design, and creating fragmentation across the Single Market.

They also warn that blurred boundaries between regulators and operators could undermine transparency, and that EPR fees may increasingly be treated as public revenue rather than a policy tool grounded in the polluter-pays principle.

The statement highlights a widening governance debate as textile EPR systems take shape across Europe: whether responsibility should remain primarily producer-driven, or increasingly be administered through state-controlled structures.