China State Administration of Market Regulation promulgated “Measures for the supervision and management of fiber product quality” under Order No. 119 of the Administration on December 25th, 2025. These measures would be effective as of July 1st, 2026. These measures address the restriction and permitted use of recycled chemical fibers and mechanically reprocessed fibers in textile products in China, which have been in controversy on interpretation for the use of such fibers for some years in China market.
These measures repeal measures with the same title released under Order No.178 of former AQSIQ on February 23rd, 2016.
Source: https://www.samr.gov.cn/zw/zfxxgk/fdzdgknr/fgs/art/2026/art_b4a7473b4e39476a94f4f7f466a7ea31.html
Below are the key highlights of the measures:
Scope (Article 2)
• The production and sale of fiber products and the use of fiber products for commercial services in China shall comply with these measures.
• The term "fiber products" in these measures refers to fiber products (for daily use and non-daily use). Single use hygiene products, glass fiber products, and carbon fiber products are not subject to these measures.
Enforcement (Article 3)
• The State Administration for Market Regulation (thereafter referred as AMR) shall be in charge of the national quality supervision of fiber products. The local AMRs at or above the county level shall be responsible for the quality supervision of fiber products in their respective administrative regions. If the local people’s governments at or above the county level have other provisions on the duties of fiber product quality supervision, those provisions shall prevail.
• China Fiber Quality Monitoring Center undertakes the technical support for the quality supervision of fiber products and organizes the implementation of fiber product quality monitoring. The professional fiber inspection institutions under the local AMRs at or above the county level undertake technical support for the quality supervision and monitoring of fiber products in their respective administrative regions.
Forbidden materials for manufacturing or reprocessing fiber products (Article 7) #
• (1) Medical fibrous waste; (2) Used funeral fiber products; (3) Fiber products from infectious disease epidemic areas whose contamination status cannot be verified; (4) Waste fiber products prohibited from import by the Nation, as well as other fibers and fiber products contaminated with toxic or harmful substances; (5) Other substances prohibited by the Nation for use in the processing and production of fiber products.
Forbidden materials to be used as filling and padding raw materials (Article 8) #
• (1) Contaminated fibers; (2) Fiber textiles or reprocessed fibers pending for disposal after use; (3) Cotton staple fibers with hand pulled length of less than 13mm; (4) Fiber waste, fiber products waste, or reprocessed fibers that have been bleached or decolorized; (5) Unwashed animal fibers; (6) Moldy or spoiled fibers; (7) Other substances prohibited by the Nation for use as filling or padding materials in daily use fiber products.
Uncontaminated fiber waste, silk reeling by-products, and washed animal fibers can be used as filling or padding material for daily use products with filling materials. Uncontaminated fiber products waste or reprocessed fibers, after being treated by sterilization process, can be used as filling or padding material for products such as upholstered furniture.
Prohibited from using Reprocessed fibers to produce underwear and infant fiber products. (Article 9)
• It is forbidden to use recycled chemical fibers, with the exception of recycled polyester fibers, as filling and padding of infant fiber filled products
# Requirements and definitions are aligned with those stipulated under GB 18383-2025.
Marking and labeling of fiber products (Articles 11 & 12)
Information on the products shall be truthful and covers below:
• (1) Certificate of product quality inspection; (2) Name and address of the manufacturer; (3) Product name, specifications, and product standard number; (4) Other content stipulated by the Nation. If there are other provisions in laws, regulations, and mandatory national standards, they shall be followed. (Note: Above information is defined in GB/T 5296.4)
• Fiber products made from recycled materials such as reprocessed fibers, recycled chemical fibers, or washed reclaimed animal fibers should clearly indicate on the label that the materials used include recycled materials;
• Student uniforms, underwear, and infant fiber products should be labeled with fiber name and composition, as well as safety category;
• Non-daily use fiber filling products should have permanent label indicating "Not for daily use products”.
Penalty (Articles 20 to 23)
Violation of these measures are subject to penalties defined in articles 20 to 23 of the measures with reference to China Product Quality Law.
Terms and definitions (Article 25)
This section covers some important terms and definitions for understanding the implementation of these measures.
Daily use products with filling materials refer to filling products that are in close contact with the human body in daily life.
(Note: GB 18383-2025 gives more examples of such products, like clothing, hats and footwear with filling, winter clothing, down garments, filled quilts, filled blankets, pillows, cushions, mattresses, sofas, seating and underlying cushions, plush toys, etc.)
Non-daily use products with filling materials refer to filling products other than those defined as daily use products with filling materials.
(Note: GB 18383-2025 gives more examples of such products, like insulation materials for construction, insulation materials for agriculture, packaging materials for transportation, decorative materials, building soundproofing materials, etc.)
Reprocessed fiber refers to fiber made from fiber waste, fiber products and their waste as raw materials, processed through physical and mechanical techniques.
(Note: GB 18383-2025 has further explanation of mechanical techniques as processes of obtaining fibers by cutting, tearing, and loosening fiber waste, fiber products and their waste using mechanical methods.)
Recycled chemical fiber refers to fibers made from waste or old fiber products or waste polymer raw materials, processed through physical melting, chemical regeneration, or physicochemical methods.
(Note: GB 18383-2025 has further explanation of these processes. Physical melting process refers to the method in which thermoplastic waste, old fiber products, or waste polymer materials are reprocessed by heating and melting. The chemical regeneration process refers to the method in which waste, old fiber products, or waste polymer materials are depolymerized, purified, re-polymerized, or broken down into new raw materials under specific chemical process conditions. The physicochemical process refers to the method in which waste, old fiber products, or waste polymer materials are melt-blended and modified under the action of different functional additives. To ensure the performance of recycled chemical fibers in subsequent use, some recycled chemical fibers contain virgin fibers.)
Fiber waste refers to single fibers and fiber bundles that fall off, removed, or separated during the production and processing of fibers or fiber products.
Fiber product waste refers to the leftover trimmings such as thread ends, fabric, wadding, and padding leftovers generated during the production and processing of fiber products, apart from the fiber waste themselves.
Besides these measures would be effective soon, there are other China standards aimed for supporting the implementation of these measures.
GB 18383-2025 General technical requirements for products with filling materials Effective date July 1st, 2026
This standard stipulates the requirements of filling materials made of natural fibers, artificial fibers, and fibers of animal origins. It covers definition of terms mentioned in the measures with examples.
Filling material requirements cover:
- Foreign matter content;
- Staple fiber length and content;
- Presence of any parasites and their eggs;
- Presence of any animal excretion;
- Peculiar odour;
- Bacterial and fungal plate count.
Sourcing filling materials from legitimate suppliers has better assurance of meeting GB 18383-2025 requirements.
FZ/T 08010-2025 Textiles – Classification and content identification of recycled fibers Effective date July 1st, 2026
This standard defines the naming, labeling and marking requirements of products made of recycled fibers.
Recycled fibers cover reprocessed fibers and recycled chemical fibers.
This standard defines the prefixes for naming reprocessed fibers and recycled chemical fibers for labeling purposes, together if such fibers are mixed with virgin fibers.
It also provides marking requirements under section 8 and appendix A when the product containing recycled fibers.
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