EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)

Requirements

The requirements under the ESPR are divided into 4 main sections:

1. Ecodesign Requirements
2. Digital Product Passport & Labels
3. Destruction of unsold consumer products
4. Obligation and conformity.

Ecodesign Requirements

Product ASPECTS 

The ecodesign requirements will be adapted to each product category and will consider all stages of the lifecycle of the product. They are supposed to improve the following product aspects:  

• Durability: Durability and reliability of the product. Ease of repair and maintenance.  

• Circularity: Ease of upgrading, re-use, and remanufacturing. Ease and quality of recycling. Avoidance of technical solutions detrimental to re-use, recycling etc. Use of recycled material.  

• Resources: Consumption of energy, water, and other resources. Consumption of resources needed for proper use and maintenance of the product.  

• Waste and pollution: Amount of waste generated. Microplastic release. Emissions to air, water, or soil in the different phases of the lifecycle of the product.  

• Footprint: Environmental and carbon footprint of the product.  

• Other: Use of harmful substances in the product or in the production process. Weight and volume of product and packaging. 

The ecodesign requirements shall include performance and information requirements, following the DA:

Performance requirements shall be either qualitative or quantitative, for the product aspects listed above. They shall be based on the relevant product parameters and where appropriate, reduce risks to human health or the environment.

Information requirements shall as a minimum be related to the DPP and be accurate, complete, and up-to-date. It shall also include the presence of substances of concern throughout the life cycle of the product.

Ecodesign requirements shall not:

• Have a significant negative impact on the functionality of the product.
• Have adverse effects on health and safety.
• Significantly reduce the affordability of the product.
• Have disproportionate negative impacts on the competitiveness of economic actors, especially SMEs.
• Impose a proprietary technology on manufacturers.
• Impose a disproportionate administrative burden on manufacturers.

Image: TrusTrace playbook on Unlocking DPP: The Why, What and How of Digital Product Passports. Download.

Digital Product Passport & Labels

This section provides an overview of two ways to share product information. One method will be required for all products under delegated acts, while the other is only mandatory if specified in the acts.

Digital Product Passport (DPP)

The DPP gives consumers access to product information, typically via a QR code or barcode on the product. It will be mandatory for all products covered by DA

DPP Details

The DA will specify 
•    Required information (e.g., product ID, compliance docs, manuals)
•    Data carrier type and placement (e.g., QR code)
•    Level of detail (model, batch, item)
•    Access permissions and update rights
•    How long the DPP must remain available

TrusTrace and the Trace4Value research pilot group determined probably datapoints to be part of the DPP and the Delegated Acts. See all 125 datapoints identified with this data protocol resource.

DPP Requirements

The DPP must:
•    Be linked to a unique product ID and meet ISO standards
•    Have a physical data carrier on the product, packaging, or documentation
•    Use a machine-readable, searchable format
•    Follow defined detail levels (model, batch, item)
•    Ensure interoperability, security, and privacy

DPP Registry

The European Commission will maintain a registry, which is kind of a “library”, of all DPPs, updated by companies selling products in the EU.

Labels

Delegated acts may require a label with specific information, layout, and electronic options for generating labels. If no label is required, products cannot display misleading labels similar to EU-mandated ones.

Do I need the DPP Solution right away?

No. As the Delegated Acts for Textiles are not finalized, it is not clear yet what data points should be in the DPP, and who should see what information. However we do anticipate there will be a lot of data-collection required and it takes time, so a suggestion is to start getting prepared by starting to collect data right away. You can model your data collection after the Trave4Value Pilot and DPP Data Protocol.

Destruction of Unsold Consumer Products

While some of these exact points under this Destruction of Unsold Consumer Products requirement are yet to be defined, the rules are anticipated in the coming Delegated Acts governing the ESPR – projected for June 2025. For the full details refer to Chapter 6 of the regulation.  

Disclosure Requirements

Any economic operator that discards unsold consumer products shall disclose on a freely accessible website:

• The number of unsold consumer products discarded per year, with the detail per category of products.
• The reason for the discarding of products.
• Number of discarded products delivered to remanufacturing, recycling and preparation for re-use facilities.

Prohibition

The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts to prohibit the destruction of unsold consumer products for certain categories of products where their destruction has a significant environmental impact. In the context of these acts, destruction of goods can exceptionally be accepted if it has been done for health and safety reasons, or if the products were refused by donation organizations. In this situation, the economic operators will still have to publicly disclose information about this destruction of products.

Exemption for SME

Prohibition and disclosure requirements do not apply to small-medium enterprises (SME) except if there is sufficient evidence that they account for a substantial proportion of unsold consumer products being destroyed.  

Obligations of Different Stakeholders 

• Manufacturers are responsible for carrying out the conformity assessment procedure regarding ecodesign and information requirements.
  
  
• Importers shall only place compliant products on the market and must ensure that storage and transport conditions do not alter the conformity of the products. 
  
  
• Distributors shall make sure that the product is compliant. In case of doubt, they are responsible for withholding the product until confirmation of compliance. 
  
  
• Dealers are responsible for making sure that the required information is accessible to consumers and that the DPP is compliant. 
  
  
• Online marketplaces and search engines are required to collaborate with market surveillance authorities* to ensure a more effective surveillance. Market surveillance authorities have the power to order marketplaces to remove non-compliant products from their platforms. 
  
  
• Public authorities: Delegated acts can establish further requirements applicable to public contracts in the form of performance criteria regarding product parameters. This measure is known as Green Public Procurement. 

* Market surveillance authority means an authority designated by a Member State as responsible for carrying out market surveillance in the territory of that Member State. Their role is defined under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. 

Conformity

With the enactment of the ESPR only products that meet the obligations of the regulation may enter the EU market. The Commission shall set accurate, reliable, and reproducible methods to test and assess the conformity of products with regard to ecodesign requirements.  

Consequences 

Each Member State will impose effective, proportionate, and dissuasive penalties for economic operators who fail to comply with ecodesign in their market. These penalties can be seen as a guarantee for the consumers of the reliability of the information provided on the products.  

Penalties implemented shall be proportionate to the extent of non-compliance and the number of non-compliant units placed on the market.  

Key Dates

Companies are obliged to abide by the ESPR requirements once the relevant Delegated Acts for their product categories are adopted and come into effect, starting from 2025.  

• March 2022: The EC introduces the ESPR proposal as part of the Circular Economy Action Plan. 
• June 2024: The new ESPR is formally signed and the regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU. 
• 18 July 2024: ESPR entered into force. 
• 2024: The EC began working on DAs to define specific product requirements, including sustainability criteria and data points for the (DPP). 
• 2025: Implementation of the first DA for priority groups.  
• 2025-2026: Compliance Timeline Specific sustainability criteria and data points for the DPP will be determined and published, specifying which information will be required and accessible to different stakeholders (e.g., consumers, recyclers, regulators)
• 2026: Destruction of unsold goods is prohibited
• 2027-2030: The ESPR and its DAs will gradually be entering into force
  • For Textile Products, the expected year is 2028. 
• 2030: The first report on the efficiency of ESPR is to be published, followed by regular reports every six years

Compliance Timeline: Companies will be obliged to abide by the ESPR requirements once the relevant Delegated Acts for their product categories are adopted and come into effect, starting from 2025.

Full compliance with the new sustainability and transparency requirements will depend on the adoption schedule of these DAs for different product categories. For textile Products, the expected year is 2028

conclusion 

Even if the exact ecodesign requirements for textiles are not known as of today, it is important for companies to start thinking about how they can measure and improve the different product parameters: durability, circularity, presence of harmful substances, etc. Traceability allows brands to have better control over the composition and the environmental characteristics of their products by giving visibility to the suppliers, their processes, and the materials used. Even though traceability will most likely not be sufficient to comply with all the requirements, collecting data and building preferred communication channels with the suppliers will give brands a valuable head start for when the delegated acts will come.