Recital (22)

In line with the polluter-pays principle, as referred to in Article 191(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), it is essential that the producers making available on the market for the first time within the territory of a Member State certain textile, textile-related or footwear products take responsibility for their management at their end of life as well as extending their lifetime through making used textile, textile-related and footwear products assessed as fit for re-use available on the market for re-use. To implement the polluter-pays principle, it is appropriate to lay down obligations concerning the management of textile, textile-related or footwear products for producers, including any manufacturer, importer or distributor, that, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance contracts as defined in Article 2, point (7), of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, make available those products on the market within a territory of a Member State for the first time on a professional basis under its own name or trademark. The scope of the producers covered by the extended producer responsibility should exclude self-employed tailors producing customised products in view of their reduced role in the textile market and those producers making available for the first time on the market used textile, textile-related or footwear products assessed as fit for re-use, or textile, textile-related or footwear products derived from such used or waste products or their parts with a view to supporting re-use and a prolonged lifetime thereof, including through repair, refurbishment, upgrading, remanufacturing and upcycling, whereby certain functionalities of the original product are changed, within the Union.