Ecodesign Forum
The Ecodesign Forum is the main arena for consulting stakeholders on the development of rules under the ESPR. It brings together a broad range of stakeholders and key ecodesign actors to contribute to the preparation of ecodesign requirements and working plans, as well as examining other areas of relevance to the ESPR process.
The Forum was established formally following the ESPR's entry into force. An open call for membership applications has been published on the Register of Commission Expert Groups.
ESPR Working Plan
To ensure that the public and stakeholders are well informed of what is planned under the ESPR, the Commission will adopt and regularly update working plans, setting out lists of products for which ecodesign requirements will be adopted and other measures that will be assessed. The first ESPR working plan will be adopted and published in the first half of 2025 and will cover a minimum period of three years.
Preparation for this is already underway: in 2023 the Commission held an Open Public Consultation on what the first ESPR product priorities should be, based on preparatory work being carried out by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre. (A summary of the results of the Open Public Consultation is available here. An updated version of the JRC’s assessment is currently being finalized and will be published here in autumn 2024.)
In addition, following agreement by the Council and the European Parliament, the ESPR text now includes several products which the Commission will be obliged to prioritise unless there is justification for not doing so. These include:-
- Iron & steel, aluminium, textiles (garments and footwear), furniture (including mattresses), tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, energy-related products (including new measures and revisions of existing ones) and ICT products, as well as other electronics.
The Commission will consult the Ecodesign Forum before the adoption of the first ESPR working plan and its views will be taken into account.
Preparatory work, for certain products, such as textiles and steel, has already begun, whilst the work on other prioritised products and potential horizontal measures will begin after the adoption of the first working plan.
Rules on the destruction of unsold consumer products
The first rules on the destruction of unsold consumer products will be adopted in the first year of the ESPR entering into force. They will set a reporting format for the transparency requirements and define relevant exemptions to the ban on the destruction of textiles and footwear laid out under the ESPR.
Digital Product Passport
Technical preparation for the roll-out of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is already underway by the Commission and will include the adoption of rules on the identifiers and data carriers that will be needed, work on access rights to DPP information, as well as the establishment of a DPP registry and web portal, amongst other supporting activities.
Ecodesign from an international perspective
The rules proposed under the ESPR will apply to all products placed on the EU market, whether produced inside or outside the EU.
The ESPR will be compliant with international trade rules and the European Union will continue to work in partnership with producing countries and third-country businesses who share the goal of improving the sustainability of their products. Moreover, the EU will be providing support to partner countries and will assess possible impacts on third countries thoroughly.
New measures, such as the digital product passport, will be developed in open dialogue with international partners to ensure that they help remove trade barriers for greener products and lower costs for sustainable investments, marketing, and compliance.
Ongoing work under current EU ecodesign framework
The ESPR is based on, and will ultimately replace in full, the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC. But there will be no gap: since the ESPR’s entry into force in July 2024, a transition regime – lasting until 2030 – has been in place. This will enable the Ecodesign Directive to continue to operate, including implementing the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2022-2024, adopted on 30 March 2022.
The Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2022-2024 builds on work done since the adoption of the first Ecodesign Directive, but also covers the work required under the Energy Labelling Framework Regulation (EU/2017/1369). The plan also covers similar work on tyre labelling that has a specific legal basis. The European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL) is the website providing public information on products covered by energy labels.
The 2022-2024 working plan covers new energy-related products and updates and increases the ambition for products that are already regulated. It addresses consumer electronics, such as smartphones, tablets and solar panels, the fastest-growing waste stream.
Key dates
- Q2 2025Adoption and publication of first ESPR working Plan
- October/November 2024Establishment of the Ecodesign Forum and publication of call for membership applications
- 18 July 2024Entry into force of ESPR
- 5 December 2023Commission welcomes provisional agreement for more sustainable, repairable and circular products
- 30 March 2022Adoption ESPR proposal (as part of Sustainable Products Initiative)
- 14 September 2020–22 June 2022Public consultation and roadmap (Sustainable Products Initiative)
- 11 December 2019Adoption European Green Deal