Last updated on November 5th, 2024
The Ecodesign Requirements for Sustainable Products Initiative (ESPR) is one of the critical regulations outlined in the EU Sustainable and Circular Textiles Strategy. Adopted with the aim to make products sold in the EU more sustainable, the regulation requires goods put on the EU market comply with the ecodesign requirements. ESPR also introduces consumer information requirements under the Digital Product Passport to enhance transparency and traceability ensuring that products meet sustainability standards across the EU market.
The ESPR establishes a framework for ecodesign requirements with the aim of making sustainable products the norm. Further, it introduces consumer information requirements under the Digital Product Passport to enhance transparency and traceability, ensuring that products meet sustainability standards across the EU market. This is arguably one of the most important and impactful initiatives set by the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) and a part of the European Green Deal.
The ESPR aims to make products more sustainable by addressing their entire lifecycle, from design to end-of-life, with a strong focus on reducing environmental impact and improving durability, reusability, repairability, and recyclability. The regulation will apply to a wide range of products, extending beyond energy-related products covered by the existing Ecodesign Directive. By setting performance and sustainability criteria, it encourages resource efficiency, waste reduction, and responsible consumption.
IMAGE: HOW THE SUSTAINABLE TEXTILE STRATEGY FITS INTO THE DIFFERENT EU PLANS AND STRATEGIES. LEARN MORE ABOUT IT IN THE TRACEABILITY PLAYBOOK. Download the cheatsheet to the Sustainable Textile Strategy.
The Delegated Acts (DA) within the ESPR framework are crucial as they represent a secondary legislation allowing the European Commission (EC) to specify detailed requirements for different product groups over time. While the ESPR sets the general framework, the Delegated Acts give the Commission the authority to adjust and expand the regulation's scope based on evolving technological and market developments. This flexibility is essential for keeping sustainability requirements relevant and up-to-date across various industries.
In addition to defining specific product rules, the DAs will also detail the data points that must be included in the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a key feature of the ESPR. This passport will provide essential information about a product's sustainability, composition, repairability, and recyclability. The DAs will specify what data needs to be accessible to different stakeholders, such as consumers, businesses, recyclers, and regulators, ensuring transparency throughout the product's lifecycle.
By dynamically setting these data requirements, the DAs will make it easier for stakeholders to track and assess products, thus supporting the EU’s vision of a circular economy. The use of Delegated Acts ensures the ESPR can adapt to new challenges, making it a powerful tool for long-term sustainability and innovation across the EU market.
The European Commission will establish an expert group called the Ecodesign Forum, comprising experts from Member States and stakeholders, including industry (SMEs, craft industries, social enterprises), trade unions, retailers, importers, environmental and consumer organizations, circular economy actors, and researchers.
All companies placing products on the EU market fall under the scope of the ESPR and its Delegated Acts. The regulation targets products sold within the EU, regardless of where they are produced.
Exemptions are food, feed, medicinal products, and living plants and animals.
The EC has published a draft list of priority products that will be tackled first under the ESPR which are:
The requirements under the ESPR are divided into 4 main sections:
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:
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.
Image: TrusTrace playbook on Unlocking DPP: The Why, What and How of Digital Product Passports. Download.
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.
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
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.
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
The European Commission will maintain a registry, which is kind of a “library”, of all DPPs, updated by companies selling products in the EU.
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.
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.
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.
Any economic operator that discards unsold consumer products shall disclose on a freely accessible website:
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.
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.
* 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
The TrusTrace Traceability Platform enables brands and suppliers to collaborate on supply chain data to digitally map all the suppliers involved in the making of a specific garment. This way, the brands can communicate with their suppliers to gather product-level information needed for supply chain compliance including data to be included in the Digital Product Passport.
If you’re not already doing so yet, begin storing traceability data in one place to engage in ecodesign requirements and transparency expectations from consumers. Speak to a TrusTrace expert today to explore how TrusTrace can help your brands scale out traceability efforts. Trace smarter. Trace faster.
Please note: At TrusTrace, we want to keep you informed on laws and regulations, but this information should not be considered or used as legal advice.