Cotance, which has promoted the project since 2022, and its partners, can rejoice: The Leather Traceability Cluster, which met at Lineapelle 104 (pictured), is close to reaching the goal. The shared agreement (and subsequent verification) on the essential requirements and means of verification to trace the origin of leather may be finalized by the end of 2024. After that, it will go through the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) standardization process. This is an extremely valuable achievement from the perspective of the implementation of the EUDR (which covers bovine hides) and beyond: it’s will lead to increased traceability of the supply chain of all types of leather.
LTC close to reaching the goal
The certification institute ICEC collaborated with LWG, Oeko-Tex and SLF to bring the Leather Traceability Cluster to success. Together, they have developed a common standard that harmonizes traceability requirements down to the animal’s place of birth, “so as to facilitate mutual recognition of traceability schemes”, claims Cotance, the European tanning association, in a press release, “without the need for repeat inspections (with their associated unproductive costs). The positive element of the Leather Traceability Cluster, which covers a sensitive area for the leather market, finds greater strength through the involvement of stakeholders, associations and nongovernmental organizations”.
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