What can the GB market learn from the EU’s Ecodesign Regulation?

As the world grapples with the pressing issues of environmental pollution and its impact on climate change, regulatory frameworks promoting sustainability have become imperative. The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation 2024/1781 (ESPR), which recently came into force on 18 July 2024, is a comprehensive approach to improving the environmental performance of products on the EU market over their entire lifecycle. It has a broad scope and applies a number of stringent sustainability obligations on a large number of products, including prioritising textiles, aluminium, chemicals and electronics, with limited exceptions (food and medical products are not covered).

The ESPR will not apply to products placed on the GB market with it having departed the EU, but it offers several lessons that the GB market could consider to enhance its own sustainable product policies and achieve its aim of a fully circular economy and to meet net zero by 2050. It will also be important for businesses based in GB who place their products on the EU market to fully assess how their products will be caught by the ESPR and prepare accordingly. GB may look to adopt similar rules as the government carefully considers the ESPR and so businesses should monitor the application of the ESPR closely and its impact on product design, manufacturing processes and the supply chain generally.

A wider scope

The ESPR expands the scope of its predecessor, theEcodesignDirective2009/125/EC significantly, by introducing wide-ranging sustainable (so-called ‘ecodesign’) requirements for a much broader range of products sold on the EU market. It applies to all physical goods placed on the market or put into service within the EU, including components and intermediate products. Food, feed, medicinal products for human and veterinary use, living organisms and vehicles are excluded from the scope. This demonstrates sustainability is equally important and can be considered across a wide spectrum of products and is not only relevant to energy-related products, such as washing machines and refrigerators, which the Ecodesign Directive was previously restricted to.

The aim appears to be to drive change in product design across all products so that these are manufactured in a durable, repairable and recyclable manner and can be modified, repurposed and re-used as required. Given the broad scope, the Commission has prioritised certain high-risk categories of products to lead the charge on design changes, which include textiles, aluminium, chemicals and electronics. Such products are already highly regulated when it comes to product safety and compliance, but there is no doubt that introducing such extensive sustainability obligations on producers will have a significant impact on the supply chain. Whether the GB market chooses to adopt a similar approach with regard to priority products remains to be seen, but we would expect close monitoring of the Commission’s working plan to see if it achieves the level of compliance to meet its objectives.

Standardisation and consistency

The ESPR is a regulation, which means it does not have to be transposed into national law and there will be uniform application across member states creating consistency in regard to product requirements, in the hope that this provides businesses with clear guidelines and facilitates smooth operations across borders.

The ESPR itself provides a general framework imposing certain minimum requirements on products within scope to ensure their sustainability. Delegated acts will set specific requirements for products in respect of the reliability, reusability, reparability, energy use and energy efficiency of the specific product group they address. These are key elements that aim to reduce waste and enhance resource efficiency to support a circular economy.

The GB market could benefit from establishing its own robust and consistent standards to maintain competitiveness in international markets. Clear guidelines would not only help domestic manufacturers to understand and meet such requirements, but also make it easier for foreign companies to comply with GB regulations when exporting goods.

A holistic approach

A significant aspect of the ESPR is its holistic approach to product design. The regulation does not merely focus on energy efficiency, but extends to resource use and waste management throughout a product’s lifecycle, from manufacturing to disposal. GB could adopt a similar holistic approach to ensure that all stages of a product’s lifecycle are environmentally friendly and that products are designed to last longer and are easier to repair or recycle, contributing towards building a circular economy model within the UK.

Consumer information

The ESPR mandates labelling schemes, such as the Energy Label, which provide consumers with clear information about a product’s environmental impact. Further, the Digital Product Passport (DPP) has been introduced to enable easy and convenient access to and sharing of product data. All obligated products placed on the market will need to be equipped with a machine-readable passport and to be uniquely identified (i.e., using a QR code). The objective being to enhance transparency and help consumers to make informed choices and increase demand for environmentally friendly and sustainable products. The objective seems logical but we would expect the commercial, administrative and practical burden on manufacturers to be extensive given the need to implement new procedures for DDPs, labelling and compliance with other information requirements.

The GB market can certainly observe how these changes are implemented in practice and take lessons from any disproportionate burdens that may need to be eased for manufacturers and others in the supply chain.

Destruction of unsold consumer products

The destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear products is prohibited and the ESPR paves the way for delegated acts to extend the list of products which cannot be destroyed. Further, significant reporting obligations regarding unsold goods throughout the value chain have been introduced so that companies will have to report on the number and weight of unsold goods which are discarded per year and the reasons for discarding them. Such transparency, which again could require a change to processes and procedures, appears to be a very positive step towards reducing waste and one which the UK would no doubt benefit from.

Conclusion

The broad scope of the new ecodesign obligations and extensive requirements will likely have a significant impact on a company’s product design and manufacturing operations, product development strategy, procurement and supply chain management. The fact that this new legislation applies to any company selling products into the EU means it has international reach and should be monitored closely by global product companies. There is still time to get up to speed with the first deadlines for compliance arising in mid-2026, but some of the changes required could take a lot longer to implement than anticipated, so early planning will be essential. Businesses will also benefit from monitoring how the working group evolves and publishes guidance and further detail on compliance requirements in due course. As for the GB market, we know that sustainability and the development of a fully circular economy remains high on the government’s agenda, but it remains to be seen whether similar extensive and wide-ranging obligations will be imposed on domestic businesses any time soon.