Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)

  • The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is the EU’s new framework regulation to make sustainable products the norm, replacing the Ecodesign Directive and extending its scope far beyond energy-related goods.

    The ESPR entered into force on 18 July 2024 and is a cornerstone of the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan. It establishes a comprehensive framework for setting ecodesign requirements across nearly all physical products placed on the EU market—excluding only a few categories like food, feed, and medicines.

     

     

    • Improve product sustainability — raise environmental performance across product life cycles through design choices that reduce resource use and emissions.

    • Increase circularity - promote durability, reparability, reusability, upgradability, and remanufacturing to keep materials and products in use longer.

    • Enhance resource and energy efficiency - lower energy and raw material consumption during use, production, and end‑of‑life processing.

    • Reduce presence of substances that inhibit circularity — limit or manage hazardous substances that block recycling, reuse, or safe recovery.

    • Boost recyclability and material recovery — make products easier to dismantle, sort, and recycle and improve recovery rates for critical materials.

    • Improve information and transparency — require interoperable data (e.g., Digital Product Passports) so actors across the value chain and consumers can make informed choices.

    • Prevent premature destruction and waste — restrict destruction of unsold goods and support longer economic life for products.

    • Support a well‑functioning single market for sustainable products — harmonise rules to avoid fragmentation and create predictable conditions for businesses across the EU.

    • Drive innovation and sustainable business models — encourage investment in repair, remanufacturing, maintenance, and circular services.

    • Contribute to EU climate and environmental targets — help meet EU goals on emissions, resource use, and circularity by 2030 and beyond. 

  • The ESPR applies to virtually all physical products placed on the EU market, creating a horizontal legal framework to set mandatory ecodesign performance and information requirements across product life cycles.

    Included product types

    • Final products and components placed on the market.

    • Products with significant environmental footprint where delegated acts can set requirements on durability, reparability, upgradability, energy and resource efficiency, recycled content, recyclability, and restrictions on substances that hinder circularity.

    Products and components that are identical in form and function to goods placed on the market are covered when supplied as such.

    Explicit exemptions and limits

    • Excluded categories include food, feed, medicinal products and certain other items explicitly listed in the Regulation. Passenger cars subject to separate vehicle rules are treated differently under sectoral legislation.

    • The Commission may justify omitting or adding product categories when adopting delegated acts.

    How scope is implemented

    • The Regulation itself sets the horizontal framework; specific requirements are introduced via delegated acts for product groups selected according to prioritisation criteria. The Commission’s working plans and impact assessments determine which groups are addressed first.

    • The ESPR’s measures can apply to information obligations such as Digital Product Passports and to performance obligations across the lifecycle.

    Prioritisation criteria (practical note)

    • Product groups are prioritised based on potential to reduce environmental and climate impacts, material and energy use, and to improve circularity and recyclability. Initial priority groups identified include iron and steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, ICT and other electronics, and energy‑related products.

    • Entry into force — 18 July 2024:

      ESPR became law, replacing and extending the scope of the old Ecodesign Directive to cover almost all physical products in the EU.

    • Adoption of the first ESPR Working Plan (2025–2030) — published 2025:

      The Working Plan sets the first horizontal measures (for example repairability scoring, DPP requirements, recycled‑content and recyclability rules) and prioritises product groups for delegated acts.

    • Roll‑out of delegated acts and product‑group timelines (2026–2030 and beyond):

      The Commission will adopt delegated acts to set concrete requirements for prioritised groups (examples and indicative adoption years include iron & steel, textiles, tyres, furniture, aluminium, mattresses and horizontal measures; specific product timelines such as dishwashers 2026, EV chargers 2028, mobile phones/tablets 2030 are indicative of the phased approach).