EU Commission publishes proposal for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

On 30 March 2022, the Commission published its proposal for a regulation establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products (“ESPR” for short), which is set to replace the existing Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC. 

The proposal provides for a significantly extended scope covering the broadest possible range of products and virtually all economic operators involved in a product’s value chain. If adopted, it thus has the potential to change the way in which products are manufactured and distributed on the European market across sectors and industries.

Even though the proposal is intentionally set up as a framework and leaves more detailed, product-specific provisions to be regulated by delegated acts, it imposes far-reaching new obligations on companies (such as the introduction of an EU digital product passport and new obligations for the handling of unsold products).

Read more on the suggested changes and their legal consequences in our recent analysis.