National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 18199:2026.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee TCI/69, Footwear & Leather.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 August 2026.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 22 June 2026.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 18199:2026) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 289 “Leather”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by February 2027, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by February 2027.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

Introduction

Public and/or private stakeholders require supply chains to provide information to consumers on how, by whom, and where products are made. Accordingly, traceability of leather back to the place of birth and slaughter of animals whose hide/skin constitute the input material of the tanning process, and transparency in the supply chain have become essential in the leather market. Animal welfare, deforestation, child or forced labour, toxic-free supplies, etc. are some of the ethical considerations that lay behind this growing trend.

Traceability constitutes a particular challenge for the leather industry, as hides and skins obtain their identity separately from the animal at the slaughterhouse, and information on the previous lifecycle is lost in the vast majority of cases. A proliferation of different and diverse approaches on leather traceability risks obliging operators along the animal-to-leather supply chain to implement several systems developed by private certification scheme owners for ascertaining the chain of custody and resulting with audit overlaps and an increase in unproductive costs.

The present document provides the requirements agreed by the sector’s certification bodies and scheme owners setting the minimum essential elements for leather traceability and minimum data or information to be kept as evidence.

The document should be used by operators along the leather value chain for implementing their traceability systems, to be verified by a robust assurance process.

1 Scope

This document sets the minimum essential elements of traceability and evidence of verification to be present in a leather traceability system, kept by organizations along the animal-to-leather supply chain. It is applicable to all types of leather.

This document defines the requirements and related evidence for establishing the traceability of leather back to the originating farms or hunting area.

This document can be applied to any organization operating within the leather value chain.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Requirements

4.1 Chain of custody model

4.2 Information requirements

4.3 System requirements

4.4 Coordination of the leather supply chain

5 Verification

Bibliography