SOURCES: Standards, regulations and policies

The GCN App is an ongoing platform aimed to meet existing and emerging Standards, regulations and policies. The platform is designed to move quickly to adopt circular economy principles coming from the EU plus other states and countries globally. GCN is built on the UNTP framework for global data interoperability and is well suited to adapt to new regulations as they come online.
See the list of specific regulations and policies the GCN App has been built to meet.

LIST OF SOURCED INFORMATION RELATED TO THE GCN APP AND PLATFORM
Some remain advisory and regulatory references pending final adopted criteria, and will change as global policies develop. 

• UN Transparency Protocol (UNTP) — UNTP Registered Software Vendor; UNTP Core Vocabulary terms implemented in public JSON-LD output; W3C Verifiable Credentials and trust graph capability as production-stage deliverables. See GCN's details on UNTP.

• ISO-CASCO conformity assessment vocabulary (ISO/IEC 17000 series) — credential Scope, Verification and trust chain roles (scheme / certification body / laboratory).

• EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles (strategy / policy framework), overarching textile strategy from which many of the measures below originate. 

• Textiles Ecosystem – TCLF (Textiles, clothing, leather and footwear) industries - The EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to create a coherent framework for the green transition of the ecosystem.

• ESPR  - Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 — Ecodesign for Sustainable Products (ESPR) — DPP data hosting as a Data Service Provider on behalf of DPP Issuers; the European Commission's DPP Registry holds the index.

• Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) — Unsold Consumer Products (Destruction Ban & Disclosure)
  Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 bans destroying unsold apparel, clothing accessories, and footwear for large companies — in force since 19 July 2026, extending to medium-sized companies from 2030 — alongside an annual public disclosure duty covering quantities, weight, reasons, and end-of-life outcomes. GCN lets large-company DPP Issuers log discard events as they happen and finalize an immutable annual disclosure record when a filing period closes.
  Reference: New EU rules stop destruction of unsold clothes and shoes — European Commission

• JRC Preparatory Study — ESPR Ecodesign Requirements for Textiles (3rd Milestone, Dec 2025)
  The EU's Joint Research Centre is preparing the technical basis for ESPR's textiles-specific ecodesign rules, expected as a delegated act around 2027 — not yet adopted. Its current proposals include a durability score, a recyclability score, recycled-content thresholds, and voluntary carbon/environmental footprint disclosure. GCN builds directly to these proposals and adjusts as they move toward final policy.
  Reference: JRC Preparatory Study on Textiles — 3rd Milestone Summary

• Revised EU Waste Framework Directive — Directive (EU) 2025/1892 (amending Directive 2008/98/EC) — Extended Producer Responsibility registration capture for textile/footwear producers, ahead of Member States' mandatory textile EPR schemes— Downstream In/Out traceability events with self-declaration attestations for regulatory reporting — plus bulk RFID scanning at Sorter facilities generating separate-collection evidence under Article 11a (in force since October 2025), including cross-border movement tracking for products moving outside the EU. 

• Extended Producer Responsibility registration (Waste Framework Directive). The EPR registration status under the revised EU Waste Framework Directive (2025/1892). GCN does not calculate eco-modulated fees — that sits with your Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO). 

• Directive (EU) 2025/1892 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 September 2025 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste.

• Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT) Directive (EU) 2024/825 — (for greenwashing/consumer environmental claims) quantified, evidence-linked claims structured for substantiation; enforcement from September 2026, no size exemption. amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU as regards empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and through better information.

• EU Textile Labelling Regulation — Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 - This governs: textile fibre names, fibre composition, textile product labelling, certain related marking requirements. The Commission is reviewing the regulation and considering a single harmonised set of labelling rules for textile and related products.

• Facility Location Data — France's Environmental Cost Scheme (Ecobalyse)
  France's Environmental Cost label requires three manufacturing-stage locations (textile formation, finishing/ennoblement, assembly) plus finished product mass to calculate a score. GCN's facility structure captures all three stages as distinct, located facilities — Mill, Finishing Facility, and Product Manufacturer — alongside product weight, already built in.
  Reference: French Environmental Cost Label — Anthesis

• Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive — Directive (EU) 2024/1760. Relevant to large textile companies and global supply chains; human rights, environmental impacts, value-chain due diligence, adverse impacts, climate transition planning. transposed by Member States into their national laws by 26 July 2028. 

• CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, 2022/2464) - is a disclosure obligation — it requires a company to report standardised sustainability performance data (via ESRS) in its management report, subject to external assurance. It doesn't itself require the company to change behaviour, only to disclose it. National transposition deadline is 19 March 2027.

• EU Business Wallet (eIDAS 2.0 / EUDI Wallet Framework) — Regulation (EU) 2024/1183
  The EU's eIDAS 2.0 framework establishes an EU Digital Identity Wallet, extending to organisations as the EU Business Wallet — letting a company cryptographically prove its identity and role (manufacturer, importer, distributor) in a transaction. The Business Wallet is still rolling out, expected around 2027, with no live credential format yet. GCN already has an optional field for a future Business Wallet credential reference, in place ahead of the standard being concrete enough to validate against.
  Reference: EU Business Wallet — European Commission

• EU Ecolabel — Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 - not mandatory for textile products, but it is relevant because it provides recognised environmental criteria for products and can interact with environmental claims and consumer information.

• Forced Labour Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 — Forced Labour Regulation — facility-level self-attestation on the absence of forced labour indicators (Mill and Product Manufacturer), cross-referenced against the facility's own Labour & Employment certifications (SA8000, amfori BSCI, SMETA, WRAP, etc.); plus an optional field for the Brand's own documented sourcing risk assessment. GCN does not assign or imply a risk rating for any country or region — the assessment and its citations are the Issuer's own. 

• Waste Shipments Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, the international movement of used textiles and textile waste.  

• CLP Regulation — Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. Chemicals Legislation. Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures.

• REACH (EC 1907/2006) — tiered chemical disclosure: SVHC attestation, restricted substances, and GCN's Chemicals of Concern register.

• Commission Recommendation (EU) 2026/510 — Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Framework for Chemicals and Materials. Adopted 6 March 2026, this voluntary Commission framework embeds safety and sustainability criteria into how chemicals and materials are developed, from research through commercialisation. Textiles are explicitly named as one of the value chains tested during the framework's development. Captured in GCN's Dyes & Finishing section as a self-attestation.

• POPs Regulation — Persistent Organic Pollutants (EU 2019/1021)
  Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 bans placing products on the EU market above set concentration limits for specific named substances — including PFOA, PFHxS, HBCDD, SCCPs, and Dechlorane Plus, all relevant to textile finishing and coating chemistries. Unlike most chemical disclosures, this is a market-placement ban, not a labelling requirement. GCN lets brands record compliance status per named substance, with the option to attach test evidence, and clearly flags any entry that would breach the ban.
  Reference: Mastering EU POPs Regulation — REACH24H

• CLP Regulation — Hazard Classification of Chemical Inputs
  Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (CLP) requires manufacturers, importers, and downstream users of hazardous chemical substances and mixtures to classify, label, and package them correctly — signal word, GHS pictograms, and hazard statements (H-codes), based on the chemical's Safety Data Sheet (SDS). This applies to the chemical inputs facilities use in production (dyes, finishing agents, adhesives, coatings), not to the finished textile product itself. GCN lets facilities record a standing inventory of their hazardous chemical inputs, with the option to attach the supporting SDS as evidence.  Reference: Understanding CLP — ECHA

• Microplastics — REACH restricts intentionally added synthetic polymer microparticles. Separately, the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles identifies unintentional microfibre release from synthetic textiles as an area requiring future action, to be addressed through upcoming ecodesign (ESPR) measures.  Reference: EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles

• Microfibre Shedding — Test Evidence (Voluntary)
  No EU-wide requirement currently exists for textile brands to test or disclose microfibre shedding. France's AGEC framework already includes it (mandatory washing-machine filters since Jan 2025, shedding data feeding the national textile eco-score from Oct 2026), and it is a likely future direction for wider EU textile rules. GCN allows brands to record microfibre shedding test results — AATCC TM212, ISO 4484-1, or The Microfibre Consortium Test Method — as optional evidence, with the option to attach the test report.
  Reference: The Microfibre Consortium — TMC Test Method

• EU POPs Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2019/1021. The Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulation restricts or prohibits certain persistent organic pollutants.

• Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2025/40.

• EU Deforestation Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 — deforestation-free and legality-of-production attestations (Article 9) for leather, natural rubber and wood-pulp-derived fibres in scope of Annex I; origin capture; certification anchoring per material type — Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and PEFC Chain of Custody for wood-pulp-derived fibres, Leather Working Group for leather, GPSNR for natural rubber; FLEGT licence recognition for wood under Article 10(3).

• Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) / Environmental Footprint methods (recommendation methods are not a certification scheme).

• Right to Repair Directive (EU) 2024/1799 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on common rules promoting the repair of goods and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 and Directives (EU) 2019/771 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Text with EEA relevance).

• Digital Product Passport Data Hosting: Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), the economic operator placing a regulated product on the EU market is responsible for ensuring that a compliant Digital Product Passport is created, maintained and remains accessible for the required retention period. The European Commission's DPP Registry functions as a central index and proof-of-registration service; it does not store the detailed Digital Product Passport data. The passport content may be hosted by the responsible economic operator or by an independent Digital Product Passport Service Provider acting on its behalf.
  
  Global Circular Network provides this hosting, management and interoperability service while enabling economic operators to retain responsibility for the accuracy and compliance of their Digital Product Passport information.

• https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/dpp-registry_en

• CEN/CENELEC:
  European standardisation for DPPs is developed by CEN and CENELEC under European Commission mandate M/604. Once cited in the Official Journal of the EU, these harmonised standards carry a presumption of conformity under ESPR — meaning systems built to them are presumed compliant. Draft standard prEN 18220 sets the technical requirements for DPP data carriers, including encoding, durability, and cross-system compatibility. GCN monitors these standards as they are finalised and designs its RFID data-carrier architecture for conformity. https://standards.cencenelec.eu

• Standards Organizations — ISO/TC 38 — International technical committee for textile standards (fibres, yarns, fabrics, testing methods)

Testing & Certification Methods
ISO 1833 series — Quantitative chemical analysis (fibre composition/blends)
ISO 3758:2023 — Care labelling code using symbols
ISO 105 series — Tests for colour fastness
ISO 5157:2023 — Textiles — Environmental aspects — Vocabulary

• Open Supply Hub — OS-ID facility identifiers across upstream and downstream. GCN can connect brands with Open Supply Hub production location information through digital interoperability while maintaining independent product-level traceability using GCN's RFiD tags and DPPs. 

• GS1 standards — GTIN and EPC identifier structure.

• "Redefining used textiles and textile waste — End-of-waste criteria for reuse and a global EPR scheme,"
  ECOS and EEB joint position, May 2025.

• GCN consulted on open-source data point structures published by Trace4Value/SwePass (coordinated by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, funded by Vinnova and SwePass – A national platform building the foundation for digital product passports across value chains in Sweden, preparing industries for upcoming EU requirements. ), https://trace4value.se/"