Glossary · Digital product passport: legal framework
Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
Also known as: ESPR, Ecodesign Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, is the EU framework regulation for sustainability requirements on almost all physical products, in force since July 18, 2024. It sets the rules for ecodesign requirements and the digital product passport, while the requirements for each product group are set later in delegated acts.
- EU
- DPP
In one sentence
The ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, is the EU framework for ecodesign requirements and the digital product passport, filled in by delegated acts.
Example
A textile company reads the ESPR to understand the passport framework, but its concrete duties only become clear once the delegated act for apparel is adopted.
How it applies
- Framework law: The ESPR replaced the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC and extends ecodesign beyond energy-related products. It defines what requirements may cover — durability, repairability, recycled content, substances of concern, energy and resource use, information — but not the values for a product group.
- Delegated acts: Product-group requirements, including whether and how a digital product passport is required, come in ESPR delegated acts. Until one applies, a product group has no ESPR passport duty.
- Destruction ban: The ESPR bans the destruction of unsold apparel and footwear, applying to large companies first, and requires disclosure of unsold products discarded. Check the applicable dates and exemptions for your company size.
- Infrastructure: It also sets up the DPP registry and the rules for identifiers and data carriers.
- Technical documentation: ESPR requirements add information duties; they do not replace the technical file or declarations under safety law such as the Machinery Regulation.
Compared with the USA, Canada and China
None of the other three has a single cross-sector ecodesign framework. The USA sets energy efficiency standards by product type and leaves packaging to state extended producer responsibility laws; Canada regulates by product and substance; China has energy labeling and sector recycling rules, with battery traceability as the most developed.