FRANCE’S NEW LAWS HELP WOOL

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 18

FRANCE’S NEW LAWS HELP WOOL

Articles made of pure new wool will benefit by textile-labelling laws that have just come into force in France.

The new laws, concerned with goods sold at retail level, make it compulsory to indicate by labelling the composition of all articles, and are regarded as a strong aid to consumer protection. For years textile merchants have been free to say practically what they like about the goods they sell. The new laws, however, oblige them to tell the public exactly of what they consist. Henceforth, articles labelled “all wool” or “pure wool” or “entirely wool” must consist of 100 per cent wool except for a general tolerance of 3 per cent, if it is justified by technical reasons, and a

special tolerance of up to 5 per cent of fibres included for decoration. The total of nonwool fibres must, however, not exceed 5 per cent. The term “100 per cent wool” may be used on a label only where such composition is actually the case. If one or more fibres represent less than 15 per cent in a mixture, they may be mentioned only by adding to the names the exact percentages of them.

The International Wool Secretariat’s international quality symbol, Woolmark, operates under rules which provide that products qualifying to carry it must conof non-wool fibre: for visible decoration and .3 per cent of inadvertent impurities.