Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
In 2024, the European Union adopted a new law that will change the way many products are designed, manufactured, and sold on the European Union (EU) market: the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The idea is simple but ambitious – products should last longer, use fewer resources, be easier to repair, and cause less waste throughout their lifecycle.
Until now, EU rules on how products were designed and built applied mainly to energy-related goods such as household items and lighting. The focus was on making these devices more energy-efficient so that they consumed less electricity during use. This helped the EU save a lot of energy, but it did not handle other environmental impacts of products, such as the materials they are made of, how long they last, or what happens to them at the end of their lifecycle. The new ESPR changes this approach – it extends the rules to almost all physical goods sold in the EU, from textiles and furniture to electronics and building materials. Only a few categories are excluded, such as food, medicines, or animal products. In short, ESPR changes eco-design from a niche policy into a framework that affects almost every industry.
Designing Products
A key idea of the new rules is that sustainability has to start at the very beginning, when the product is first designed. Instead of being made to have a short lifecycle or to be difficult to fix, products should be built to last, to be repaired when something goes wrong, and to be taken apart easily when they finally reach the end of their life.
Considering a household appliance such as a vacuum cleaner: When a small plastic part or the motor breaks, it often costs more to repair than to buy a new one, so the old machine is thrown away. Under the new approach, spare parts would need to be available and easy to replace, so the vacuum can be repaired and continue working instead of ending up as waste.
Digital Product Passport and Transparency
A new concept introduced by ESPR is the Digital Product Passport (DPP). Every product will come with a digital file that can be opened by scanning a code on the label or packaging. It will show information such as what materials were used, how the product can be repaired, how it should be recycled, what is its environmental footprint and whether spare parts are available. The objective is to provide clear and reliable information not only to authorities, but also to consumers, repair workshops and recyclers. Staying with the example of the vacuum cleaner – its digital passport could list the type of motor it uses, show where replacement parts can be ordered, and explain how it should be recycled once it can no longer be repaired.
The regulation also addresses the problem of unsold goods. In the past, products that were never bought often ended up being destroyed, a practice that has faced growing criticism as consumers are increasingly valuing sustainability. Under the new rules, companies will need to find different solutions. Clothing is perhaps the most striking example: piles of unsold jackets or shoes can no longer be burned or shredded just to make space for the next season’s collection. Instead, businesses will have to recycle them, donate them, or sell them at reduced prices.
The ESPR also puts a strong focus on the reliability of environmental claims of the manufacturers. Terms like “eco-friendly” or “green” have been used in such a broad way that they often gave consumers little real information. This kind of unclear labelling, often referred to as greenwashing, is now being questioned more. Under the new rules, companies will need to be precise and transparent. Any claim about a product’s environmental impact must be clear, specific, and supported by verifiable evidence. The digital product passport will facilitate this by gathering relevant data in one place but also set a higher standard for manufacturers, as companies will have to back up every sustainability claim with real proof.
Implementation and Impact
The ESPR regulation is already in force, but its real effects will be felt gradually. Over the next few years, the European Commission will introduce detailed rules for specific types of products. Textiles, furniture, steel and aluminium, tyres, detergents, paints and various electronics are expected to be among the first. Each product-category will have its own rules, so businesses will need to follow how the requirements develop over time. Besides product-specific rules, there will also be horizontal rules. These are requirements that apply across many product types – such as repairability, recycled content, or recyclability. Companies will not only need to monitor the rules for their product category but also other requirements which may apply commonly.
For smaller businesses, the new rules can seem like a big task. A family-owned furniture shop or a small clothing brand does not have the same resources as a large manufacturer to handle new paperwork or digital systems. The EU acknowledges this and intends to simplify things by offering practical support, standard formats and sometimes even financial help. For example, a small shoe producer will not have to build a product passport system on its own but will be able to use ready-made templates. A local furniture maker might get access to shared data tools that show how to list the source of materials or how to record repair options. This should help smaller companies keep up with competition, so that sustainability isn’t only for the biggest players.
For companies that operate internationally, the consequences extend far outside the borders of the European Union. Any product sold in the EU market will have to meet these standards, no matter where it was produced. For global manufacturers, this can be a turning point. Running separate production lines for different regions often becomes costly and complicated, which is why many will probably find it easier to apply EU standards everywhere. Something similar happened with data protection: once the EU introduced its strict GDPR rules, many global companies adjusted their policies worldwide rather than create one system for Europe and another for the rest of the world.
Preparing for the new ESPR rules means taking some very practical steps:
- Companies will need to know much more about their supply chains, because details about materials and components will have to go into the digital product passport.
- New products will need to be designed with repair and recycling in mind.
- Companies will also need a plan for what to do with unsold units – they can no longer simply be scrapped.
- All this information will have to be stored digitally and shared with both customers and regulators through the product’s passport.
Grzegorz Kłodkowski