Oeko-Tex announces new requirements for STeP certification

New requirements for the certification of environmentally friendly and socially responsible production facilities in accordance with STeP by Oeko-Tex came into force at the beginning of April.

This means that in the future, production sites certified in accordance with STeP must comply with the following:

• New criteria relating to their waste water.
• All employees and employers must comply with ethically correct behaviour.
• Exclusion of the worst forms of child labour, slavery and forced labour.
• Sandblasting for the treatment of jeans has now been banned.
• Thickening agents based on aromatic hydrocarbons for textile printing have now been banned.
• Appropriate storage areas must be provided to ensure that pollution of the immediate environment and groundwater is excluded.

STeP came into force in July 2013 and replaces the previous certification of production sites according to Oeko-Tex Standard 1000.

For more information on STeP visit www.oeko-tex.com