Background and aims
Main objectives
Key features
First Working Plan 2025-2030
New performance and information requirements
Digital Product Passport
Ban on destruction of unsold consumer products
What it means for businesses
What it means for consumers
Public consultation
Relevant documents
Contact
Background and aims
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024, establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products, amending Directive (EU) 2020/1828 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC, entered into force on 18 July 2024, and aims to make everyday products more sustainable, durable and easier to repair, reuse and recycle.
The ESPR replaces and greatly expands the scope of Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC) (subject to certain transitional provisions), which applied to energy-using products. It applies to almost all physical products sold in the EU, with a small number of exceptions, including food, medicines, and living plants and animals.
This initiative is a significant part of the European Green Deal and the Commission’s Circular Economy Package.
Main objectives
The main objectives of this regulation are to:
- reduce the negative environmental impact of products throughout their entire life cycle, from manufacture to end of life
- improve the functioning of the EU's internal market for sustainable products
- support more sustainable business models while strengthening the competitiveness and resilience of the EU economy
- build on the ecodesign rules for energy-using product and expand the range of sustainability requirements that can be applied to products
- encourage innovation and support job creation in circular economy sectors
Key features
The ESPR is a framework regulation. Rather than setting detailed requirements for every product immediately, it allows the European Commission to adopt product-specific requirements through delegated acts over time.
Future requirements may address areas such as:
- enhancing durability and reliability
- improving repairability and maintenance
- promoting reuse and refurbishment
- enhancing recyclability
- improving energy and resource efficiency
- increasing recycled content
- establishing rules on carbon and environmental footprints
- limiting waste generation
- improving product information and traceability
First Working Plan 2025-2030
The EU decides which products to focus on first through a multiannual Working Plan that is updated regularly. The first Working Plan 2025-2030 was adopted in April 2025 and prioritises:
- textiles/apparel, and tyres (indicative timeline for adoption: 2027)
- iron and steel (indicative timeline for adoption: 2026)
- aluminium (indicative timeline for adoption: 2027)
- furniture (indicative timeline for adoption: 2028)
- mattresses (indicative timeline for adoption: 2029)
- repairability, including scoring (indicative timeline for adoption: 2027)
- recycled content and recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment (indicative timeline for adoption: 2029)
New performance and information requirements
For each product group covered, the ESPR can also set:
- Performance requirements: Minimum standards a product must meet, such as how easily it can be repaired or the amount of recycled material it must contain.
- Information requirements: Information that must be made available about a product, for example what it is made from and how it can be repaired or recycled.
- Green Public Procurement: Minimum requirements that must be met when purchasing products through public contracts.
- Requirements to prevent destruction of unsold consumer goods.
Digital Product Passport
A key new feature of the ESPR is the Digital Product Passport (DPP).
A DPP is a digital container for products, components and materials. It will store relevant information to support product sustainability, promote circularity, and facilitate legal compliance. It will provide consumers, repairers, recyclers, and regulators with reliable, easy-to-access information about a product, such as:
- the materials and substances it contains
- its durability and repairability
- how it should be recycled or disposed of at the end of its life
This information travels with a product throughout its life cycle and will make products easier to repair, reuse, or recycle properly.
An EU-wide Digital Product Passport Registry became operational in July 2026. The registry itself does not store all the product data but acts as an index, pointing to where the information is held by the manufacturer or an approved service provider.
The specific information required for each product type will be set as the rules for each product group rules are adopted.
Ban on destruction of unsold consumer products
ESPR introduces new rules to prevent companies from destroying unsold clothes, clothing accessories, and footwear, such as returned or surplus stock, instead of donating, reselling, or recycling these products.
The ban on destruction
From 19 July 2026, large companies are prohibited from destroying unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear. This ban will extend to medium-sized companies from 19 July 2030. Micro and small businesses are exempt from this ban.
There are a small number of exceptions, including where products are unsafe, damaged, counterfeit, infringe intellectual property rights, or have been rejected by charities or donation schemes. Businesses will be required to provide evidence supporting the use of an exception and to publish annual reports on products they have discarded.
Reporting on discarded unsold goods
Large companies (and medium companies from 2030) that discard unsold consumer products of any kind must publish information each year on their website about the products they have discarded and the reasons for doing so, including how much was reused, recycled, or sent to landfill.
This broader reporting requirement is not limited to apparel and footwear, unlike the destruction ban.
Preventing the problem in the first place
All companies, regardless of size, are expected to take reasonable steps to avoid accumulating unsold goods that may need to be destroyed in the end.
What it means for businesses
Businesses that manufacture, import or sell physical products in the EU should be aware that:
- new ecodesign requirements will apply to products within scope once the relevant delegated act has been adopted for that product group
- some products may require a Digital Product Passport (DPP) before they can be placed on the EU market
- large businesses already have obligations relating to unsold consumer products, including disclosure requirements and, in the case of apparel, clothing accessories, and footwear, a ban on destroying unsold stock
- public procurement may increasingly take account of product sustainability requirements introduced under the ESPR
- online marketplaces and search engines may also have obligations under the ESPR in certain circumstances
Businesses will not be required to comply with detailed product requirements until the relevant delegated act for their product type has been adopted and entered into force.
However, the obligations relating to unsold goods and disclosure requirements already apply.
What it means for consumers
Over time, consumers should benefit from:
- longer-lasting, easier-to-repair products
- clearer, and more reliable information about a product’s sustainability through the Digital Product Passport
- less waste resulting from the destruction of unsold clothing and footwear
- better information from large retailers about what happens to unsold stock
These changes will be introduced gradually as product-specific rules are introduced for different types of products.
Public consultation
A public consultation on ecodesign for sustainable products was held in 2022. The responses received helped inform Ireland's negotiating position on the regulation.
Details of any future consultations relating to the implementation of the ESPR will be published on this page as they become available.
Relevant documents
Contact
Email: ecodesign@enterprise.gov.ie