Cécile Rousseau
July 15, 2024
ESPR: It’s time to take action!
Let’s take a closer look at the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Although the new legislation comes first into force in 2027, we explain why it makes sense to get started straight away and share some tips to help you begin.
Proposed in March 2022, the final version of the ESPR was adopted at the end of May 2024 and officially enters into force on the 18th July. The potential impact of the ESPR was demonstrated with the implementation of the 2009 Ecodesign Directive. Targeting only electronic equipment, it saved EUR 120 billion in energy expenditure for European consumers. This led to a 10% decrease in annual energy consumption among the 31 affected product groups. The new ESPR which targets almost all product types on the market, is expected to lead to energy savings equivalent to approximately 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas, almost equivalent to the EU’s import of Russian gas.
The ESPR is a framework legislation that sets the performance and information requirements for a broad range of physical goods and intermediate materials. This regulation enables the future adoption of product-specific, Delegated Act measures to be established through regularly updated, multi-annual working plans that will develop priorities for the individual product groups.
The ESPR has a strong focus on product information and introduces the “Digital Product Passport” (DPP). The DPP shares the adoption timeline of the ESPR and targets the same priority product groups. Its purpose is to ensure that stakeholders such as consumers, authorities, or NGOs have digital access to product-specific information. This data aims to support transparency in the first instance in addition to circular economy, decarbonisation, and sustainability.
Some of the general principles introduced by the ESPR target unnecessary product destruction by making it mandatory for economic operators to “take necessary measures which can be reasonably expected to prevent the need to destroy unsold consumer products” (art. 23).
The ESPR also increases market surveillance to allow for improved enforcement. The Delegated Acts will provide verification requirements to support market surveillance, with the European Commission and Member States sharing responsibilities to ensure a smooth application.
The rules proposed under the ESPR will apply to all products placed on the EU market, whether produced inside or outside the EU and will be compliant with international trade rules.
The product groups affected by the first working plan are iron, steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, information and communication technology products and other electronics.
Preparatory studies and impact assessments will be performed for each product group and will be submitted to the Ecodesign Forum for consultation. These will contribute to the publication of Delegated Acts on product group specific measures, which will be applicable within 18 months after the adoption of the Delegated Act.
The enforcement of the ESPR will result in affected product groups becoming subject to a wide range of horizontal requirements, including assessment of reliability, energy use, and the expected generation of waste materials. The illustration below outlines the complete list of assessment requirements as presented by the European Commission.
If a product is prioritised in the first working plan of ESPR, the compliance process needs to begin now and can be divided into two sprints.
1. Before the product group specific Delegated Acts are passed, it is important to:
- Get familiar with key concepts: concepts such as circularity, carbon footprint, environmental footprint of products, eco-conception, CE marking framework and the safe and sustainable by design framework should be thoroughly understood and shared throughout different functions within the company and along the supply chain.
- Streamline data generation and management: this will be key, both inside the company and within the supply chain. The DPP and Life Cycle Assessment requirements demand high quality and reliable data to ensure useful outputs and mandatory transparency.
- Be aware of substances of concern: As defined in the ESPR, such substances must be considered when managing the product portfolio. The ESPR definition differs from that defined within the Biocidal Regulation (EU) 528/2012 and covers not only Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) under REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and restriction of CHemicals, (EC) 1272/2008), but a much wider range of substances. This confirms the importance of implementing a process to ensure the traceability of substances throughout the supply chain as already suggested in the context of other recent EU legal texts (e.g., the battery regulation).
- Consider recyclability: It is important to assess the potential impact substances within the product can have on recyclability of these products as well as their packaging.
- Take a holistic approach to product circularity and sustainability: Investigate the circularity and sustainability of the products put on the market; their content in recyclable materials and optimisation of this content, not only from the point of view of the packaging but also regarding raw materials and substances contained in the products itself (e.g. bio-sourced materials to be assessed in terms of resource consumption and the possibility to recover substances when the product is discarded etc.).
2. Once the product group specific Delegated Acts are passed, it is important to:
- Perform a second screen of the company’s product portfolio: The Delegated Acts will set product-specific thresholds for substances of concern and additional requirements in terms of recyclability.
- Revisit Digital Product Passports: The Delegated Acts will also set product-specific requirements for the content of the DPP. Requirements for new information should be quickly communicated throughout the supply chain, as the new requirements will enter into force 18 months after the Delegated Acts. Anticipation will be key.
The 2026 and 2027 deadlines may seem distant, but the ESPR’s impact on the industry will be profound and will fundamentally alter company-supply chain interaction. Efficient data generation and management will no longer be a luxury but a necessity. Product sustainability will now include compliance and environmental standards. This shift necessitates organisational restructuring, with teams having to adapt and collaborate in new ways to meet upcoming challenges, making the deadline for changes a lot closer than it may initially seem.
Want to know more?
Cécile Rousseau
Principal, Health Sciences
Imani Hamilton
Senior Managing Consultant
Meera Cush
Senior Managing Consultant
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