At Cotance table is ICEC, the certification institute for the leather area. With it are LWG, Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF), Oekotex and Textile Exchange. Together, they all join the work promoted by the association representing the European tanning industry in Brussels in view of the harmonisation of leather traceability schemes. Cotance launched the initiative at the September 2022 edition of Lineapelle. The aim is to define the minimum essential traceability elements, as well as the verification evidence that must be present in each scheme. The latest trade fair in Milan (21-23 February) was the occasion for the signing of the newly defined Terms of Reference.
Cotance table
ICEC, LWG and SLF signed the document at Lineapelle (photo). Oekotex and Textile Exchange, who were not present with their delegates in Milan, will sign later. The Terms of Reference provide for the possibility of extending the table (called Leather Traceability Cluster) to intergovernmental organisations, such as UNIDO or UNECE, NGOs and animal husbandry acronyms. WWF and NWF have already expressed interest in joining. The next meeting of the table is scheduled for 16 March.
The comments
“I am very happy with the developments at the table,” Gustavo-Gonzalez Quijano, secretary general of Cotance, commented in a note, “because if we bring this initiative to a successful conclusion, we will provide the industry with leather traceability tools that will save standards and audits in the tanneries, so as to avoid unproductive costs”. “I think we will do a great job at this pre-competitive table,” adds Sabrina Frontini, director of ICEC. “We will align and discuss essential issues, but at the moment not entirely coordinated, in the interest of the leather sector”.
Pictured, left: Sabrina Frontini (ICEC) and Debora Taylor (Sustainable Leather Foundation) with Gustavo-Gonzalez Quijano (Cotance); right, again with Quijano with Stuart Cranfield and Ian Scher (LWG)
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