Public consultation on ecodesign for sustainable products

2nd August 2022 | Closed Consultations

The Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Environment, Climate and Communications invite submissions to help to inform the Irish position on negotiations on the EU Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products.

Background and aims of proposal

The European Commission made its proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products earlier this year. This initiative is a significant part of the European Green Deal and Commission’s Circular Economy Package.

The main objectives of this proposal for a regulation are to:

reduce the negative life cycle environmental impacts of products
improve the functioning of the internal market
build on existing successful ecodesign rules

It also aims to provide more meaningful information on the environmental aspects of products for consumers.

Ireland’s Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2022-2023 commits to the policy of significantly increasing the circularity of the Irish economy, with the aim of being above the EU average by 2030.

Supporting measures that impact on the design of goods and services will be most effective if they are agreed and implemented on an EU-wide basis. This provides a level playing field across the EU for producers and consumers and leverages the power of the Single Market to support the circular transition. The ‘Right to Repair’ is a case in point. Ireland fully supports the principle of enabling consumers to repair or have goods repaired at a reasonable cost and in a timely manner and will support ambitious proposals along these lines from the European Commission. As a small open economy, Ireland’s ability to unilaterally establish a ‘Right to Repair’ for Irish consumers is limited at best and far more can be achieved through collective action at the EU level.

Main features of the proposal

Key features of this ESPR proposal include:

a framework to set requirements – via delegated acts – for how products should be made
requirements to provide information on the environmental sustainability of products – digital product passports will enable products to be tagged, identified and linked to information relevant to their circularity and sustainability
putting a stop to the destruction of unsold consumer goods
promoting and procuring more sustainable products
designed to be coherent and aligned with existing and future sectoral legislation and policies (for example, the Commission’s strategy for sustainable textiles and the Construction Products Regulation)

Details of consultation

EU Council consideration of the proposal has commenced under the Czech Presidency in the Competitiveness Working Party. However, negotiations will intensify in September. We are seeking submissions to help to inform the position Ireland takes at these negotiations. Submissions should not exceed 2,500 words or five pages in length.

Please email responses to ecodesign@enterprise.gov.ie and circulareconomy@decc.gov.ie.

The last date for receipt of responses is Tuesday, 13 September 2022 at 5pm.

Relevant documents

Making sustainable products the norm in Europe (europa.eu)

Proposal for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (europa.eu)

Data Protection and Freedom of Information

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open, and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation. All submissions and feedback will be considered by the departments.

Please note that it is intended that all submissions received will be made available under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI) and as such may be published on our websites.

In responding to this consultation, parties should clearly indicate where their responses contain personal information, commercially sensitive information, or confidential information which they would not wish to be released under FOI or otherwise published.

We would like to draw your attention to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment's Data Protection Data Privacy Notice which is available on our website and explains how and when we collect personal data, why we do so and how we treat this information. It also explains your rights in relation to the collection of personal information and how you can exercise those rights.

Update October 2022: Submissions to the public consultation are available to download below.