Overview
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which entered into force on 18 July 2024, is the cornerstone of the Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products.
Products and the way we use them can significantly impact the environment. Consumption in the EU can, therefore, be a major cause of climate change and pollution.
The ESPR is part of a package of measures that are central to achieving the aims of the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan and fostering the transition to a circular, sustainable, and competitive economy. It will contribute to helping the EU reach its environmental and climate goals, double its circularity rate of material use and achieve its energy efficiency targets by 2030.
Objectives
The ESPR aims to significantly improve the sustainability of products placed on the EU market by improving their circularity, energy performance, recyclability and durability.
It will also play a central role in developing a strong, well-functioning single market for sustainable products in the EU.
By doing so, a significant step will be taken towards better protecting our planet, fostering more sustainable business models and strengthening the overall competitiveness and resilience of the EU economy.
The ESPR replaces the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC and establishes a framework for setting ecodesign requirements on specific product groups. It extends the Ecodesign Directive in two ways.
Firstly, while the latter applies only to energy-related products, the ESPR extends this scope to cover virtually all physical products. Only a few exemptions apply, for example, for food and feed, and medicinal products. Secondly, the ESPR reinforces the range of ecodesign requirements that can be set for products, which can comprise requirements relating to durability, circularity and the overall reduction of the environmental and climate footprint of products, amongst many others.
This will strengthen the Single Market by avoiding diverging legislation in each Member State and create economic opportunities for innovation and job creation, notably in remanufacturing, maintenance, recycling and repair.
Law
The ESPR enables the setting of performance and information rules – known as ‘ecodesign requirements’ – for almost all categories of physical goods, including:-
- Improving product durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability
- Enhancing the possibility of product maintenance and refurbishment
- Making products more energy and resource-efficient
- Addressing the presence of substances that inhibit circularity
- Increasing recycled content
- Making products easier to remanufacture and recycle
- Setting rules on carbon and environmental footprints
- Limiting the generation of waste
- Improving the availability of information on product sustainability
For groups of products that share enough common characteristics, the framework allows horizontal rules to be set.
The ESPR also contains a number of other new measures:-
The ESPR will introduce a Digital Product Passport (DPP), a digital identity card for products, components, and materials, which will store relevant information to support products’ sustainability, promote their circularity and strengthen legal compliance.
This information will be accessible electronically, making it easier for consumers, manufacturers, and authorities to make more informed decisions related to sustainability, circularity and regulatory compliance. It will also allow custom authorities to perform automatic checks on the existence and authenticity of the DPPs of imported products.
Information to be included in the DPP will be identified by the Commission, in close consultation with all relevant stakeholders, and will depend on the specific product in question. This information can include:
- Product’s technical performance
- Materials and their origins
- Repair activities
- Recycling capabilities
- Lifecycle environmental impacts
Many unsold products in the EU are simply destroyed, a practice that wastes valuable resources. For the first time in the EU, the ESPR introduces measures to address this practice by introducing a ban on the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear, opening the way for similar bans in other sectors if evidence shows they are needed.
It will also require large and eventually medium-sized companies across all product sectors to disclose annual information on unsold consumer products on their website, such as the number and weight of products they discard, as well as their reasons for doing so.
Public authorities in the EU spend around €1.8 trillion purchasing works, goods and services.
The ESPR will help steer these funds in a more sustainable direction by enabling mandatory Green Public Procurement rules to be set for specific products. Under those rules, public authorities who purchase the products concerned will be required to purchase products that meet the highest levels of performance in terms of sustainability and circularity.
This has the potential to significantly boost demand for sustainable products, in turn, further incentivising companies to invest in this area.
Implementation
The ESPR is a type of framework legislation and lays the foundation for the subsequent adoption of concrete rules, either on a product-by-product basis or horizontally - on the basis of groups of products with similar characteristics.
The process will begin with a prioritisation exercise. In the first half of 2025, the Commission will adopt the first ESPR working plan, setting out which products will be prioritised over the coming years. Development of product rules will then start, based on inclusive planning, detailed impact assessments and regular stakeholder consultation within a dedicated Ecodesign Forum.
- October/November 2024Establishment of Ecodesign Forum and publication of call for membership applications
- 18 July 2024New Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation enters into force
- 5 December 2023Commission welcomes provisional agreement for more sustainable, repairable and circular products
- 30 March 2022Adoption ESPR proposal (as part of Sustainable Products Initiative)
- 14 September 2020–22 June 2022Public consultation and roadmap (Sustainable Products Initiative)
- 11 December 2019Adoption European Green Deal
Watch the online information session on ESPR from 22 May 2024