European Social Partners of the Leather Industry Hold First Steering Committee Meeting of SER2026
Brussels, 16 June 2026 - The European Social Partners of the leather sector, the trade association COTANCE and industriAll European Trade Union , convened the first Steering Committee Meeting of the SER2026 project today, bringing together national partners from six EU Member States to advance work on the 2026 Social and Environmental Report (SER) of the European Leather Industry.
The meeting, , marked a key milestone in the project’s 20-month timeline. Partners aligned on the work programme and upcoming deadlines, and took a series of decisions that will shape the next phase of the project.
Survey Questionnaire Approved
A central item on the agenda was the review and approval of the SER2026 survey questionnaire, presented by UNIC - Italian Tanneries, the Italian national partner leading this workstream. The questionnaire covers more than 37 social indicators and around 39 environmental parameters, including new ones added for this edition, and will be used to collect data from a representative sample of European tanneries.
Compared to the 2020 edition the updated questionnaire: introduces a three-year reference period (2023–2025), restores the original structure of several social indicators to allow direct comparison, expands the accidents and occupational diseases indicator, adds a new work-life balance section, updates environmental and waste classification data.
A further addition is a dedicated questionnaire for Wastewater Treatment Plants (WTP/ETP), also developed by UNIC, which captures data on effluent treatment and environmental performance at plant level - a critical dimension of the sector’s environmental footprint that was not covered in the previous edition. Both instruments were discussed, refined, and approved at the meeting.
The criteria for selecting participating tanneries in each country were also agreed. National partners: ACEXPIEL (Spain), APIC (Portugal), FFTM (France), MKSZ (Hungary), UNIC (Italy) and VDL (Germany) will now proceed to finalise translations and launch data collection in their respective markets, with a target deadline of end September 2026.
Edoardo De Paola, Secretary General, COTANCE: “ The Social and Environmental Report provides a periodic pulse check of the European tanning industry. SER2026 will update our identity, revealing how previous challenges have shaped our sector and demonstrating how resilience and innovation are continuing the legacy of this millenarian industry. We are doing this while we bring a renewed visual identity, showing how the industry is evolving and integrating social and environmental matters in its development plans.”
Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary, industriAll Europe: “ SER2026 offers a valuable reflection on the social and environmental reality of the European leather industry. It shows a sector that continues to evolve through resilience and adaptation, but whose future strength depends on investing in people, in their skills, in
decent working conditions, and in quality employment in Europe. Preserving this legacy requires ensuring that workers remain at the centre of the industry’s transformation, supported by strong social dialogue at every step.“
Communications and Visual Identity
The Steering Committee adopted the project’s communications and dissemination plan, designed to ensure that SER2026 results reach tanneries, trade unions, EU & national decision-makers and the wider policy community.
For the first time, the project has its own visual identity and logo - giving SER2026 the recognisable presence it needs to carry the industry’s message consistently across national and EU-level channels throughout the years.
“SER2026 is more than just a data collection exercise - it is the leather industry holding up a mirror to itself, with rigour and pride. The previous edition remains the most downloaded document on the COTANCE website and has become a benchmark not only for the European leather industry, but also for the global one. It is, in every sense, the standard the industry measures itself against. Giving SER2026 its own visual identity for the first time was the right decision, because what we are building here shapes how the world sees leather, and that image deserves to be widely and lastingly recognised” - says Vita Kobiela, SER2026 Project Coordinator, COTANCE
Next Steps
Following the meeting, the project moves into its data collection phase. National partners will now proceed with the finalisation and translation of the questionnaires before launching the survey across participating countries. The next Steering Committee Meeting is scheduled for February 2027 at Lineapelle in Milan.