Extended Producer Responsibility for textiles in Spain: framework, eco-modulation and required SCRAP data

From the framework Directive 2008/98 to textile EPR 2025/1892: why Spain transposes now

The current configuration of the European waste management framework has its roots in Directive 2008/98/EC. This foundational text established the waste hierarchy as a binding guiding principle. Directive 2018/851 amended the original articles to introduce Article 8a. This provision laid the operational basis of extended producer responsibility and required Member States to set up the separate collection of textile waste before 1 January 2025.

The 2022 EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles (COM(2022) 141 final) accelerated regulatory intervention. As an executive response, the European legislator adopted Directive (EU) 2025/1892. This instrument inserts Article 22a into the framework Directive. It obliges Member States to ensure that producers assume financial and organisational responsibility for managing the waste phase of the life cycle of textile and footwear products.

The European legislator grants a transposition deadline expiring on 17 June 2027. It conditions the full operation of textile SCRAPs on 17 April 2028. Spain decides to bring application forward through the MITECO Draft Royal Decree. The anticipation responds to an operational fracture: Law 7/2022 already required local authorities to establish separate collection before 31 December 2024 with no EPR regime to finance the operation.

Binding framework today: Law 7/2022, Directive 2025/1892 and the MITECO Draft RD

Law 7/2022, of 8 April, constitutes the headline norm. It transposes Directive 2018/851 and establishes the foundations of the circular economy in Spain. Its Article 18 categorically prohibits the destruction or disposal by landfill of unsold surpluses of non-perishable products, expressly including textile products. Article 25.2.c) decrees the mandatory nature of separate collection of textile waste. Article 53 governs the administrative authorisation of SCRAPs and requires their annual accounts to be subject to independent audit.

Directive (EU) 2025/1892 updates this framework and imposes the creation of a producer registry. It requires the registration of every manufacturer, importer or distributor that markets textile products for the first time on a professional basis. It introduces the figure of the online platform operator, forcing alignment with Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act).

The MITECO Draft Royal Decree of 23 June 2025, whose public consultation closed on 4 September 2025, specifies the financial architecture of the Spanish SCRAP. It defines exact metrics for calculating the financial guarantee and obliges producers to submit annually the quantities by weight and the number of articles placed on the market, broken down by Combined Nomenclature (CN) code.

Eco-modulation: what data the SCRAP requires and how it modulates the unit fee

The financial contribution abandons the flat-fee model based exclusively on tonnage. Directive (EU) 2025/1892 and the Draft Royal Decree require an eco-modulation system. The objective: to penalise unsustainable production and reward ecodesign oriented towards durability and circularity.

Article 22c of the Directive establishes that contributions shall be based on weight and modulated in accordance with the requirements adopted under Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR). The SCRAP will require a massive volume of data for each reference (SKU) placed on the market: exact material composition, percentage of pre- and post-consumer recycled fibre, technical tests on physical durability, reparability documentation and availability of spare parts.

The Spanish Draft Royal Decree explicitly penalises fast fashion. The rules require modulating the contribution according to practices that induce the overgeneration of waste. The SCRAP will compute the number of references placed on the market per unit of time and assess the frequency of collection renewal.

The fee architecture rests on the mathematical formula foreseen in Annexes VI and VII of the Draft: GFtotal(€) = 0.10·N(t) × CMG(€·t⁻¹), where N(t) represents the tonnage declared in the previous financial year and CMG the average management cost per tonne set by the competent authority. The operator that lacks documentary evidence will pay the maximum default fee.

Operational timeline: transposition, national RD and SCRAP entry

The temporal gap between the European schedule and Spain's anticipation defines the risk. Directive (EU) 2025/1892 sets 17 June 2027 as the deadline for national transposition. It fixes 17 April 2028 as the definitive horizon. Municipal pressure over separate-collection costs accelerates the timeline in Spain.

The optimistic scenario projects approval of the Draft Royal Decree during the first quarter of 2026. Producers would have six months to formalise their registration in the new textile and footwear section of the Producer Registry. Financial operation would activate in early 2027.

The base scenario places approval of the Royal Decree at the end of 2026. The constitution of the collective schemes and the approval of the financial guarantees would consume the year 2027. The enforceability of eco-modulated fees would coincide with the European deadline of 17 April 2028.

The pessimistic scenario contemplates paralysis in the regional authorisation of SCRAPs. The operational benchmark is set by France: the EPR regime managed by Refashion imposes mature obligations. The €170,000 penalty on Refashion (9 April 2026, ref BREP_26_037) evidences the rigour of supervision in advanced markets.

How Spanish textile EPR intersects with DPP ESPR, post-Omnibus CSRD, ECGT and Refashion FR

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) instituted by the ESPR Regulation constitutes the unavoidable data engine for EPR compliance. Directive 2025/1892 explicitly links eco-modulation to the ecodesign parameters of the ESPR. The producer will not be able to settle its EPR obligation by providing an aggregate volume: it must inject the DPP telemetry for each SKU.

The CSRD Directive, amended by the Omnibus 2026/470 rules, requires non-financial reporting on resource management and circularity. The metrics required by the sustainability auditor will come directly from the declarations made to the SCRAP. Any discrepancy between the CSRD report and the settlements to the Producer Registry will trigger a risk of cross-penalty.

The Directive on the Empowerment of Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT) imposes strict control over greenwashing. Claims about the reparability or recyclability of a garment must match precisely the data declared to the SCRAP in order to obtain the fee rebate.

Concurrent Spain-France operation requires a unified architecture with jurisdictional flexibility. France maintains stricter national provisions under Article 114 TFEU (Notification C/2026/1806). The French regime imposes on medium-sized enterprises the uninterrupted ban on destroying surpluses until 2030, diverging from the timelines of the ESPR Regulation.

Operational implications by size: large brand, medium and small-micro

Large brands bear the full regulatory burden immediately. The destruction ban of Article 18.2 of Law 7/2022 directly impacts their inventory management policies. The settlement of fees to the SCRAP will require a refactoring of their ERP systems to capture fast-fashion modulators and range breadth.

Medium-sized enterprises face severe regulatory asymmetry if they operate in neighbouring jurisdictions. The ESPR Regulation exempts them from the Annex VII destruction ban until 19 July 2030. However, French notification 52026XC01806 demonstrates that Member States can maintain stricter legislation. In Spain, the contribution to the SCRAP is unavoidable.

For small and micro-enterprises, the legislator enables mitigation mechanisms. The Draft Royal Decree establishes a specific grace period. SMEs with fewer than ten employees and annual turnover below two million euros have an additional twelve-month period relative to the general compliance dates. They will provide simplified reports limited to quantities by weight and the number of articles.

8 edge cases: border scenarios in the Spanish textile chain

1. Foreign brand without ES establishment: every producer from another Member State or third country that markets textiles in Spain must designate an authorised representative through a written mandate.

2. Cross-border marketplace: online platform operators assume subsidiary responsibility. Before authorising the sale they must verify Producer Registry registration and SCRAP membership.

3. Technical textiles: personal protective equipment and products for professional or military use with risks to safety, health or hygiene are excluded from the EPR scope.

4. Professional second-hand: operators that market for the first time used textile products professionally sorted and deemed fit for reuse do not acquire producer status.

5. NGO donations: social-economy entities enjoy a preferential regime. SCRAPs must guarantee free collection of waste generated at their facilities.

6. Pre-effect stock: the financial obligation does not operate retroactively. Producers finance the management of products supplied after entry into force.

7. ES production exported to EU: the territoriality principle governs the contribution. The producer pays EPR exclusively in the Member State where the product is marketed.

8. Mid-year SCRAP change: a producer that modifies its membership must notify the competent authority and ensure pro-rata settlement without interruption of the data flow.

5 operational decisions for the next 12 months

1. Audit the inventory of eco-characteristics per SKU: deploy data-extraction protocols across the supply chain to document exact material composition, durability and reparability. The absence of this repository will mean paying the maximum penalty.

2. Monitor the evolution of the MITECO Draft RD: appoint an internal compliance owner to assess amendments to the text under public hearing and prepare the imminent registration in the new textile section of the Producer Registry.

3. Define a multi-SCRAP strategy for pan-European operations: standardise the declaration variables to interact simultaneously with Refashion in France, the future Spanish system and equivalent entities in Italy or the Netherlands.

4. Incorporate eco-modulation clauses into contracts with garment makers: require Asian suppliers to provide recycled-fibre certifications and declarations of substances of concern with legal validity.

5. Execute the technological reconciliation between EPR and DPP: ensure the corporate ERP system unifies the environmental attributes of the Digital Product Passport with the financial declaration obligations of the waste regime.