The Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB) is promoting a movement to publicise the Leather Law (Lei do Couro) in Brazil, where it is considered a crime to use terms such as "eco leather" or "synthetic leather", meaning that the word leather can only be used when relating to products truly made from animal skin.
With support from the Union of Leather Tanning Industries from Novo Hamburgo city (RS), CICB is promoting a series of visits to shopping centres and street retailers in order to check the proper use of the word "leather", as well as guiding managers and directors about the law that prohibits the use of expressions such as "eco-leather" and "synthetic leather".
The so-called Leather Law blitzes, which were initiated in September, have already visited more than 4,000 businesses across 30 cities in Brazil, looking to make sure law 4.888/65 is being followed. The objective of the campaign is to inform the retailer and make sure consumers are not harmed.
"Leather is a noble article, from animal origin, elaborated through a long process, and this understanding is extremely important so that people are not harmed", says the Union's executive director, Janete Maino, along with president Francisco Assis Stürmer and director Cícero Marchini.
The Leather Law campaign has been running for over a year and a number of businesses that had already been notified before by CICB on the proper use of the word "leather" now carry the correct printed and verbal communication, mentioning the action as the starting point for their adaptation.
