Commercial Information Circulars

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Ref : EIC 413/2, EIC 413/4

21 June 2011

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 354/2011

Brazil : Labelling Requirements for Textile Products

The National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (INMETRO) of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil issued a Resolution (No. 2/2008) on the labelling requirements for imported or domestically manufactured textile products. It also issued a Directive (No. 166/2011) to establish the procedures for the inspection and collection of samples of textile products for physicochemical tests to ensure their compliance with all applicable labelling requirements as stipulated in the Resolution No. 2/2008. Relevant Resolution/Directive (in Portuguese) are available at:
Resolution No. 2/2008: http://www.inmetro.gov.br/legislacao/resc/pdf/RESC000213.pdf
Directive No. 166/2011: http://www.inmetro.gov.br/legislacao/rtac/pdf/RTAC001693.pdf

DETAILS

2. Salient provisions of the Resolution No. 2/2008 are summarised below:

Compulsory Information on Textile Products

• a.Imported or domestically manufactured textile products intended for sale in Brazil must indicate the following compulsory information by means of "labelling method" such as a label, stamp, ticket, etc. that is indelible and affixed to the product in a permanent manner, in a position which is easily visible on each item or part of the product:
  • name, company name or registered brand (registered with the competent body in Brazil), and tax identification of the domestic manufacturer or importer;
  • country of origin;
  • name of the textile fibres/filaments and their content expressed as a percentage of their mass (the generic names of textile fibres/filaments and their accepted descriptions are contained in ANNEX A of the Resolution No. 2/2008);
  • care instructions (declared in accordance with the standard ISO 3758:2005); and
  • indication of the size or dimensions, as applicable.
• b.The typographic characters used for the compulsory information, both on the product and on the packaging, must be equally prominent, easily legible, clearly visible and indelible. The height of the characters must not be less than 2 millimetres.
• c.The compulsory information is not allowed to contain abbreviations, except for sizes, types of company, tax identification marks, company name, and registered name or brand.
• d.The compulsory information has to be presented in Portuguese, without prejudice to the use of other languages.

Labelling on Packaging

• e.Certain textile products, including nappies, handkerchiefs, tablecloths, bibs, hosiery and socks, gloves, etc, which have the same characteristics and textile composition, and are packaged, the compulsory information may be displayed on or inside their packaging, using one of the "labelling methods", provided that the information can be seen from the outside.
• f.Textile products made up of bonded cloth obtained by the overlapping of carded veils may display the compulsory information on the packaging.
• g.When the packaging for points (e) and (f) above contains more than one item, the number of items and the fact that they may not be sold separately must be clearly stated.
• h.When the packaging has been hermetically sealed, and the compulsory information displayed on the product or on a "labelling method" included in the packaging cannot be seen from the outside, the packaging must indicate as a minimum the following information: the textile composition, the country of origin, and the size or dimensions.
• i.For bed linen, table, kitchen and bath textile products, and curtains sold in packages, the information relating to the textile composition, the country of origin and the dimensions for each item must be displayed on the packaging, or one of the "labelling methods" may also be used to display the information inside the packaging, provided that it is visible from the outside. The inclusion of the dimensions on the product shall be optional.

Exemptions

• j.A number of textile products listed in ANNEX B of the Resolution No. 2/2008 are excluded from the labelling requirements, including the following: sanitary napkins, disposable nappies, hair accessories, sewing kits, textile appliqués, funerary articles, protective and safety textile articles such as safety belts, life jackets, bullet-proof vests and protective fire-resistant clothing, textile articles for horse-riding (excluding clothing), textile articles used on animals or toys, motor vehicle seats, camping tents, footwear, book covers, felt hats, belts, flags, suitcases, bags, cleaning cloths in general, parachutes, used clothing (the term "used clothing" must be included on each product), diving clothes, tablecloths, toiletry articles (except towels, blinds and carpets), etc.

Collection of Samples for Physiochemical Tests

3. Salient provisions of the Directive No. 166/2011 are summarised below:

• a.After assessing the compulsory information on the textile products, the public inspection agent may proceed with the collection of a sample(s) of the inspected textile product(s) for assessment of the veracity of the information relating to the textile composition, the measurement of linear density, the width and the grammage of the fabric as displayed by the manufacturer or the party responsible for the information statements.
• b.Samples may be collected for carrying out the physicochemical tests from any type of textile products (yarn, filaments, cord, sewing thread, trimmings, fabrics or ready-made products) at the place of storage, transport, exhibit or sale of the textile products.
• c.The sampling size varies depending on the textile product. For example, one or three items for ready-made items (excluding lingerie), three items for lingerie, six pairs for hosiery and gloves, and one item for trimmings. Please refer to Table 1 of the Directive for the information on the minimum quantities of each sample required to carry out the physicochemical tests.
• d.The physicochemical tests shall comply with the specific standards and are to be carried out by laboratories accredited by Cgcre/INMETRO (website: http://www.inmetro.gov.br/credenciamento/) or appointed by INMETRO.

4. For details of the labelling and sampling requirements for textile products, traders are advised to consult their importers in Brazil and/or the above Brazilian Resolution/Directive.

ENQUIRIES

5. For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact Miss S Y TANG at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Bonny CHAO)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry