Understanding the impact of UK CSR regulations on the textile industry
The UK has established itself as a pioneer in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability legislation. As one of the first countries to introduce a legally binding commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the UK has set the tone for other nations.
In this article, we'll take a look at the UK's key CSR regulations that affect the fashion industry. From protecting consumers from hazardous substances and greenwashing, to introducing stricter laws on supply chain due diligence and transparency, and tackling packaging waste, these measures are setting new standards for sustainability.
For brands, understanding and complying with these regulations isn't just a legal obligation - it's an opportunity to build trust, meet consumer demand for transparency and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Let's explore the details behind these significant laws and their impact on the fashion industry.
Consumer protection and greenwashing regulations in the UK fashion industry
The UK has robust regulations in place to protect consumers from harmful substances and misleading marketing practices. From the General Product Safety Regulations (GSPR), which ensure that only safe products are placed on the market, to the UK's REACH chemical safety requirements and stricter rules on environmental claims, these laws set clear expectations for fashion brands to know their products and base any claims on solid evidence.
General Product Safety Regulations (GSPR): Ensuring safe products for UK consumers
Since 2005, the General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) have played a vital role in protecting UK consumers by ensuring that all products placed on the market are safe to use.
Manufacturers, including importers, have specific obligations to ensure the safety of products. They must ensure that products are safe for use under normal or foreseeable conditions and provide consumers with essential information to enable them to assess potential risks and take the necessary precautions. To ensure traceability, producers must indicate their name and address on the product or its packaging, together with product references or batch information. They are also required to monitor risks by testing samples and investigating complaints, and to keep distributors informed.
If a product is found to be non-compliant, the manufacturer must inform the relevant enforcement authority of the risks and the corrective action taken.
For the textile industry, compliance with the GSPR requires a thorough assessment of potential risks, such as harmful chemicals used in fabric production or physical hazards such as flammability. These regulations require manufacturers, importers and distributors to implement rigorous testing and quality control processes to meet strict safety standards.
Failure to comply can lead to product recalls, hefty fines (up to £20,000) or imprisonment, and damage to a brand's reputation.
By complying with the GSPR, textile companies can protect consumers and demonstrate their commitment to safety.
REACH: From EU Regulation to UK REACH Post-Brexit
With Brexit, the UK has adopted its own version of the EU's REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation, now known as UK REACH.
This legislation regulates the use of chemicals in products placed on the UK market, including textiles. UK REACH requires manufacturers and importers to register chemicals used in their products, assess their risks and ensure they do not pose a threat to human health or the environment.
Companies must comply with UK REACH to demonstrate due diligence and ensure consumer safety.
Restricting Greenwashing: The Green Claims Code and Consumer Protection Regulations
To protect consumers from misleading environmental claims, the UK enforces the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which prohibit businesses from making misleading claims about their products or services.
Complementing this framework, the Green Claims Code, introduced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in September 2021, provides specific guidance on how to make accurate, clear and evidence-based environmental claims.
The Code is based on six core principles:
- Claims are truthful and accurate: Claims should reflect the reality of a product's environmental impact and avoid exaggeration or misrepresentation;
- They are clear and unambiguous: the language used should be simple and ensure that consumers understand the claim without confusion or the need for additional clarification;
- They present complete information: Important details about the environmental impact of the product should not be omitted or hidden.
- They provide fair and meaningful comparisons: Where claims involve comparisons (e.g. with other products or services), they must be meaningful, based on accurate data and clearly explained:
- They consider the entire life cycle: Environmental claims must account for the full life cycle of the product, avoiding a narrow focus that misrepresents the overall impact,
- They are substantiated: Each claim must be supported by credible, up-to-date evidence that can withstand regulatory or consumer scrutiny.
Companies are encouraged to follow a detailed checklist based on these core principles.
Failure to meet these standards can lead to enforcement action under the Consumer Protection Act, underlining the importance of gathering evidence throughout the supply chain to support each claim.
For more details, see the CMA's Green Claims Code and checklist on the UK government's official website.
Supply chain transparency and due diligence in the UK: Key legislation for ethical business practices
The UK legislative framework includes measures and draft regulations designed to improve supply chain transparency and promote ethical practices across all industries.
For the textile sector, these include the Modern Slavery Act, the proposed Commercial Organisations and Public Authorities Duty (Human Rights and Environment) Bill, climate-related disclosure requirements and a Sustainability Reporting Standards project.
This section explores how these regulations are pushing companies to take responsibility for their supply chains, address human rights and environmental risks and report transparently on their sustainability efforts.
Modern Slavery Act: Improving supply chain accountability
Since 2015, the Modern Slavery Act has applied to all commercial organisations operating in the UK that supply goods or services and have an annual turnover of £36 million or more.
Under the Act, companies are required to publish an annual modern slavery statement outlining the steps they have taken to identify and address the risks of forced labour, human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
In addition to the statement, companies must implement robust due diligence mechanisms to assess, mitigate and monitor modern slavery risks. These mechanisms often include supply chain audits, risk assessments and supplier training programmes.
Non-compliance can lead to significant reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny and loss of consumer confidence.
New UK due diligence law: Commercial Organisations and Public Authorities Duty (Human Rights and Environment) Bill
The proposed Commercial Organisations and Public Authorities Duty (Human Rights and Environment) Bill, due to come into force in mid-2026 for the 2025 financial year, will introduce comprehensive due diligence and transparency obligations for companies and public authorities. The exact scope will be determined by further regulations from the Secretary of State.
The Bill will require organisations to integrate rigorous human rights and environmental due diligence throughout their operations, subsidiaries and value chains. It mandates value chain disclosure to ensure full traceability and introduces civil liability, penalties and criminal offences for non-compliance.
Key due diligence requirements include:
- Embedding these practices in policies and management systems,
- Identifying and addressing potential harm,
- Maintaining grievance mechanisms,
- Actively monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of the measures taken.
The reporting requirements under the Bill are extensive. Eligible organisations must publish annual reports and submit them to a registry website within six months of the end of the financial year. These reports must detail due diligence plans for the coming year, assess the effectiveness of the previous year, and include:
- Information on human rights and environmental due diligence, results and actions,
- A value chain disclosure that allows for full traceability,
- Reporting on greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3).
To meet these expectations, companies are encouraged to align themselves with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Failure to do so can result in severe penalties, including fines of up to 10% of the organisation's global turnover.
Sustainability Reporting Standards: Increasing transparency for investors
The UK is driving sustainability reporting through both existing regulations and future standards.
Currently, environmental reporting is mandatory for companies under two key changes: the Companies (Strategic Report) (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022 and the Limited Liability Partnerships (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022. These regulations require large companies (500+ employees) to include ESG disclosures in their annual reports in four key areas: governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets.
Looking ahead, the UK plans to introduce Sustainability Reporting Standards aligned with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These forthcoming standards are intended to provide the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with the tools to enforce clear and precise sustainability reporting requirements for UK-listed companies in order to provide investors with reliable, comparable (because standardised) data on companies' sustainability efforts.
UK regulations tackle packaging waste and plastic pollution in the fashion industry
The UK is taking decisive action to tackle packaging waste and plastic pollution, with regulations aimed at achieving its net zero targets. The fashion industry is under increasing pressure to adopt sustainable packaging practices, driven by measures such as the Plastic Packaging Tax and Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging.
This section explores how these regulations are pushing brands to meet sustainability standards while reducing the environmental impact of their packaging.
Plastic packaging tax: Promoting sustainable packaging practices
The Plastic Packaging Tax, which comes into force on 1 April 2022, applies to commercial organisations in the UK that have imported or manufactured at least 10 tonnes of plastic packaging components in the last 12 months, or expect to do so in the next 30 days.
The tax will apply to finished plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic, with rates reaching £217.85 per tonne in 2024. Plastic packaging containing 30% or more recycled plastic will be exempt from the tax, but will still count towards the 10 tonne reporting threshold.
Fashion brands will need to ensure they register for the tax if they meet the threshold, keep detailed records of their packaging and actively seek to reduce their reliance on plastic to avoid the tax.
More information and detailed guidance can be found on the UK government's dedicated webpage.
Extended producer responsibility for packaging: Compliance requirements for fashion brands
Since 2023, the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Packaging regulation requires commercial organisations with an annual turnover of £1 million or more that import or supply more than 25 tonnes of packaging into the UK market to meet strict packaging obligations. This includes companies in the fashion sector who must ensure that they comply with packaging data collection and reporting requirements.
Under the EPR, fashion brands supplying packaged goods to the UK market must collect detailed data on each packaging reference they use.
This data includes
- Packaging activity data: the type of activity carried out with the packaging - whether they supply packaged goods to the UK market under their own brand, place goods in packaging, import products in packaging, own an online marketplace, hire or lend reusable packaging or supply empty packaging,
- Type of packaging: for example, whether the packaging is household or non-household,
- Packaging class: whether the packaging is primary, secondary, transport or tertiary,
- Type of packaging material and total weight placed on the UK market.
Organisations must report packaging data twice a year, with deadlines set for the January-June and July-December reporting periods.
The deadlines for reporting packaging data in 2024 are as follows:
- January to June data must be reported between 9 August 2024 and 1 October 2024,
- July-December data must be reported between January 2025 and 1 April 2025.
In addition, organisations will be subject to fees from 2025 for packaging placed on the market in 2024, based on the type of material used in the packaging, with lower fees for easily recyclable materials.
Fees will only apply to large organisations - those with a turnover of at least £2 million. The final amounts have not yet been set, but indicative base fees for the first year are now available. They range from £110 to £605 per tonne, depending on the material.
For more information on packaging data requirements, fashion businesses can refer to the UK government's official guidance.
In line with global CSR trends: UK regulations reflect global shift towards sustainable practices
The wave of CSR regulations currently sweeping the UK is part of a wider global movement towards sustainability and ethical practices within the textile sector. As fashion brands navigate these new requirements, they are aligning themselves with international trends and ensuring that their packaging practices, human rights and environmental policies meet the new standards.
This includes implementing rigorous traceability processes to enable the collection of information throughout the production chain, as well as the transparency required by various regulatory frameworks.
For more insights, see our other articles on Mastering the European Union Strategy for Sustainable Textile and Navigating CSR Compliance: Essential Regulations for Fashion Brands in France and Worldwide to stay ahead of global CSR compliance trends.