European Union consultation on the Eco-design Regulation

On 30 March 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation on the ecodesign of sustainable products. The proposed regulation is known by the abbreviation “ESPR”. The ESPR proposal aims to reduce the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle and improve the functioning of the EU’s internal market. It proposes to do this by building on the successful approach launched under the current Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, which applies only to energy-related products. It proposes to extend the Ecodesign Directive to a very wide range of material products and to strengthen its provisions. For product groups that share a common set of characteristics, horizontal rules could be established. The proposal will make it possible to define ecodesign requirements on a wide range of aspects, including

• the durability of products, as well as the possibility of reusing, improving and repairing them;
• the presence of substances that hinder circularity;
• efficiency in the use of energy and resources;
• the content of recycled materials;
• remanufacturing and recycling;
• carbon and environmental footprints;
• information requirements, including a digital product passport.