Big names fall foul of Portugal’s leather law
Portugal’s national tanning industry body, APIC, has said trading standards officers have found six prominent companies to be in breach of the country’s leather law.
A law prohibiting the mention of leather as a means of promoting synthetic alternative materials came into force in Portugal in January 2022. The law provided a period of grace, giving companies until the end of that year to sell any stock bearing descriptions that were not in keeping with the law.
In March 2023, leather research agency CTIC provided training in Alcanena to trading standards officers to help them identify instances of companies presenting false product descriptions to Portuguese consumers.
Putting this training into practice, the trading standards authority, ASAE, launched an investigation called ‘Operation Leather’ at the beginning of this year. APIC said it had tipped trading standards officers off in some cases, following its own investigations. It said it was still far from uncommon to see companies using the term ‘leather’ inaccurately in their product descriptions.
At the start of September, APIC began naming and shaming companies that have come under investigation for breaching the leather law. These included automotive brands Mini, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, accessories brand Tous, fashion brand SMF Jeans and furniture companies Ikea and Staples.
It said only BMW and Staples had responded and were working with APIC to put their product descriptions right.
The leather industry body said it wanted all of its member companies to let it know if they find any further breaches.
