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Adler Modemärkte AG: ADLER May Continue to Accept Used Textiles

DGAP-News: Adler Modemärkte AG / Key word(s): Legal Matter
Adler Modemärkte AG: ADLER May Continue to Accept Used Textiles

19.02.2015 / 09:26

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Press Release from Adler Modemärkte AG

Bavarian Administrative Court Decides in Favour of ADLER in its
Consumer-Friendly Decision on the Return of Used Clothing

ADLER May Continue to Accept Used Textiles

Company Fulfils Product Responsibility

Haibach (near Aschaffenburg), 19 February 2015. On 10 February 2015, the
Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht) of Würzburg in Bavaria decided
that Adler Modemärkte AG - one of Germany's largest textile retailers - may
continue to accept and take back used textiles at its stores regardless of
the origin of those textiles and may issue coupons in return for those
items. The court considered the principle of product responsibility to be
far-reaching and thus came to this decision. ADLER and recycler I:CO had
brought legal action against the Bavarian State Office for Environmental
Protection (Bayerisches Landesamt für Umweltschutz) after the State Office
permitted ADLER to take back only those textiles ADLER had itself put on
the market.

Although not yet final, the decision by the Administrative Court of
Würzburg thus backs the argument brought by ADLER and I:CO, namely that
restricting the items ADLER may take back to only those textiles ADLER
itself puts on the market - which the Bavarian State Office for
Environmental Protection attempted to do - runs counter to the principle of
product responsibility and the sustainable use of resources stipulated
under German law.

"This decision allows us to continue to fulfil our existing and extensive
product responsibility policy and to offer our customers a simple,
convenient and rewarding opportunity to return their used textiles at our
stores so that they can be repurposed in an environmentally-friendly
manner", said ADLER CEO Lothar Schäfer, commenting on the pivotal decision.

"We welcome this favourable decision by the Administrative Court of
Würzburg, in which it voiced its support for an ecological and practical
approach to used textiles", said Stephan Wiegand, CEO of I:CO. "A decision
to the contrary would have decreased the life cycle of returned products
because it would have presented more hurdles for customers wishing to
return items."

In 2009, Adler Modemärkte AG began working with the I:CO take-back system,