The ‘E’ of ESG: Sustainable products - new EU Ecodesign rules for unsold consumer products

The EU Commission is poised to adopt implementing rules for the EU Ecodesign Regulation for Sustainable Products (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) that will give effect to new audited transparency requirements and a destruction ban for certain unsold consumer products contained in ESPR. The EU Commission recently published draft delegated and implementing acts specifying these rules. This blog analyses the draft rules and unpacks the practical implications for enterprises doing business in the EU. 

The rules apply for products placed on the EU market, regardless of whether the enterprise is located inside or outside the EU. For large enterprises in particular, deadlines will approach swiftly even without the draft implementing and delegated acts being enacted – audited disclosure obligations begin as soon as 2026 (on 2025 data), and the destruction ban will apply from 19 July 2026.

A key aim of ESPR is preventing systematic destruction of unsold consumer products. The EU takes the view that destruction of unsold consumer products, particularly due to the rapid growth of online sales, is becoming a widespread environmental problem across the EU that amounts to a loss of valuable economic resources. At the same time, there are several Member State laws on destruction of unsold products which the EU says create market distortions. The EU legislator therefore saw the need for a harmonised framework to prevent the destruction of unsold consumer products and to ensure that economic operators are subject to the same rules and incentives across Member States.

ESPR has been in force since 18 July 2024 (see our initial blog post in 2024). However, key requirements will only apply based on delegated and implementing legislation soon to be enacted by the EU Commission.For the ESPR requirements relating to unsold consumer products, the EU Commission has been aiming to finalise two Commission regulations by Q3 2025:

• An implementing act on disclosure requirements (Art. 24 ESPR); and
• a delegated regulation on exceptions to the ban on destruction (Art. 25 ESPR).

These legal acts are intended to provide common details on transparency obligations and a common disclosure format as well as justified and appropriate derogations from the ban on destruction. EU Member States have to implement national rules on penalties for non-compliance. In Germany, for example, penalties under the previous Ecodesign Directive went up to EUR 50,000 per incident (could be higher based on profits achieved based on the non-compliance).

Transparency – Article 24 ESPR

Scope: Under ESPR, certain enterprises are obliged to annually disclose detailed information on unsold consumer products they dispose of. The obligation first applies for large enterprises and, from 19 July 2030, also to medium-sized enterprises as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC. The rules apply for products placed on the EU market, so also non-EU enterprises have to comply if they offer their products in the EU. The disclosure obligation under Article 24 ESPR covers the following information:

• Quantity: The number and weight of unsold consumer products discarded per year, differentiated per type or category of products;
• Reasons: The reasons for discarding products and, where applicable, the relevant derogation;
• Waste treatment: The proportion of products which undergo preparation for reuse, recycling, other recovery, and disposal; and
• Prevention: Measures taken and planned for the purpose of preventing the destruction of unsold consumer products.

Format of disclosure: The required information must be disclosed either on an easily accessible page on the enterprise’s website or, for entities subject to such reporting obligations, within their sustainability report pursuant to Article 19a or 29a of the EU Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU. The EU Commission has confirmed in its ESPR FAQ document (available here) that an enterprise may freely choose between these two options (ESPR FAQ 17). Additionally, consolidated disclosure by a parent enterprise is permissible, for instance, by referring to this consolidated disclosure on a subsidiary’s website (ESPR FAQ 130).

Specific requirements under the draft implementing act: The EU Commission was required to adopt a (first) implementing act by 19 July 2025 to set out details for the disclosure. However, to date, only a draft text of a Commission implementing regulation is available, with adoption still planned for Q3 2025 (available here). In its current version, the draft implementing act further specifies the following requirements:

• Disclosure format: Disclosure must follow a standardized format to ensure comparability. Annex I of the draft divides the information to be reported into three sections: Section 1 – Organisation name and disclosure period; Section 2 – Product information, reasons for discarding products, and information on waste treatment operations applied; and Section 3 – Preventive measures planned to prevent future destruction;
• Delimitation of product categories: Reporting is differentiated by product categories (classified by the first digits of the Combined Nomenclature); and
• Verification: Enterprises already required to publish a sustainability report under Article 19a or 29a of the EU Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU must obtain a limited assurance opinion from their statutory auditor or an accredited assurance provider. This opinion shall cover the correctness of the disclosure and is supplementary to the existing assurance requirement under the EU Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU. The opinion is published together with the disclosure in the same document.

The wording and content of the implementing act may still be subject to change, as the deadline for obtaining feedback from stakeholders did not expire until 10 July 2025. Stakeholders criticise, for instance, the bureaucratic burden of the reporting obligations, unclear definitions in the draft, and short transition periods for data collection.

Timing: While the disclosure obligation for medium-sized enterprises only applies from 19 July 2030, large enterprises must already disclose unsold consumer products discarded during the first full financial year during which the ESPR is in force (Article 24(1) ESPR). This disclosure must take place in the subsequent financial year. For many enterprises, this means they will be required to disclose the relevant information as soon as in 2026 with regard to 2025 data. This rather short transition period did surprise stakeholders, not least because the upcoming more detailed implementing regulation, once enacted, will only apply 12 months after the date of its entry into force, i.e. likely not before Q3/Q4 2026. Consequently, addressees of the ESPR will need to comply with the disclosure obligations already stipulated in Article 24 ESPR itself, without any further implementing regulations setting out binding details and the format of such disclosure yet. This requires careful guidance, for instance, with respect to the aforementioned verification and delimitation requirements, as these are set forth only in the (draft) implementing regulation and not in the ESPR itself.

Ban on destruction – Article 25 ESPR

Scope: For large and medium-sized enterprises, the ESPR prohibits the destruction of unsold clothing, clothing accessories, and shoes as listed in Annex VII of the regulation (Article 25 ESPR). The EU Commission may extend the list to other product categories by delegated acts later on (see below). Again, the rules apply for products placed on the EU market, so also non-EU enterprises have to comply if they offer their products in the EU.

Specific requirements under the draft delegated regulation: By 19 July 2025, the EU Commission was also supposed to adopt delegated acts setting out derogations from the prohibition of destruction of unsold consumer products where appropriate. At present, a draft text is the only version of a Commission delegated regulation available, with its adoption also planned for Q3 2025 (available here). This draft regulation stipulates, in particular:

• Derogations from the destruction ban: The draft delegated regulation provides exemptions for cases where products cannot be used and must be delivered to recycling or other waste treatment plants, such as when damage, including physical damage, renders a product unacceptable for consumer use; and
• Documentation requirements: For verification purposes, enterprises invoking a derogation under the regulation must, for a period of 10 years after an unsold consumer product subject to a derogation has been destroyed directly or through a third party, keep documentation, and upon request, put it at the disposal of the competent authorities.

Amendments might still be made to the text and contents also of this delegated regulation, as the deadline for collecting feedback from stakeholders only ended on 11 August 2025. While generally welcoming derogations from the destruction ban, stakeholders criticise the bureaucratic burden of the documentation obligations and retention periods, as well as the lack of additional exemptions, amongst others.

Timing: The destruction ban will apply from 19 July 2026 for large enterprises and from 19 July 2030 for medium-sized enterprises. Pursuant to its current draft text, the delegated regulation is also intended to apply from 19 July 2026.

What to consider now?

Given that ESPR requires large enterprises to disclose information on unsold consumer products during the first full financial year in which ESPR is in force, these enterprises are well advised to collect the relevant information now to ensure they can report accordingly in the following financial year. Although not yet applicable (or even adopted), the draft Commission implementing regulation provides further guidance on what specific data should be collected and how the disclosure could be designed.

In addition, for enterprises subject to ESPR, we recommend monitoring the EU Commission’s legislative activities to not be caught off guard by delegated acts activating (other) ecodesign requirements under ESPR, as transitional periods are likely to be short also for other upcoming legislation in this area.

What’s next?

With regard to the draft implementing and delegated regulations, the EU Commission is still expected to finalise and officially adopt the drafts (originally planned for Q3 2025).

Looking further ahead, ESPR empowers the EU Commission to add new products to the list of products subject to the destruction ban under Article 25 ESPR. Before doing so, the EU Commission is required to: (i) assess the prevalence and environmental impacts of the destruction of certain unsold consumer products; (ii) take into account the information disclosed by enterprises pursuant to Article 24(1) ESPR; and (iii) carry out an impact assessment based on best available evidence and analyses, and on additional studies as necessary (see Article 25(4) ESPR).

However, according to the EU Commission’s current ESPR Working Plan 2025–2030 (para. 4.2; available here), the EU Commission has no intention to enact such delegated acts to extend the destruction ban within the next five years.

Regarding additional forthcoming EU Commission delegated acts, triggering other ESPR ecodesign requirements, the ESPR Working Plan 2025–2030 signals what will come first: textiles, furniture, tyres, iron/steel and aluminium. In addition, there are supposed to be horizontal rules on repairability and on recyclability/recycled content for electronic devices within the same timeframe. These rules are “horizontal”, as they will apply to a wider range of products (such as electronic devices). The EU Commission is expected to adopt acts on repairability scoring in 2027 and on recyclability and recycled content in 2029.

This blog is part of ‘The ‘E’ of ESG’ blog series. You can read more about our Environment, Social and Governance offering here.