Ecodesign legislation
What does the legislation cover in principle?
The ecodesign regulations typically include:
- Technical requirements for the physical product typically focussed on energy efficiency, emission or general resource efficiency-related aspects. The product needs to fulfil these so-called minimum requirements to be allowed to be placed on the EU market.
- Requirements concerning the availability of spare parts and information for repair and maintenance to increase the expected lifetime of products.
- Information requirements covering the documentation of the product. When placed on the market, the product has to fulfil all technical requirements and information requirements. The documentation confirms the compliance of the product with all requirements of the regulations by the supplier.
Requirements for enviromental aspects
The so far implemented product-specific regulations among others include requirements for the following environmental aspects:
- Energy Efficiency
- Noise Emissions (depending on the product type)
- Emissions of air pollutants (e.g. CO, NOx, Corg) (depending on the product type)
- Durability
- Selected quality criteria
- Reparability
- Software updates: Software updates and repairs must never lead to the situation that products to no longer meet the ecodesign requirements. The energy consumption and other parameters must not deteriorate after software or firmware updates, without the end user's consent. If the user rejects an update, it must not cause a change in performance
- Circumvention: So-called defeat devices are software, hardware or elements of the product design that change a product’s performance in particular under lab tests conditions in a way that the product appears as better performing respectively more energy efficient than it is under real-world conditions. Such devices mislead the consumer and lead to market distortion. The application of such devices is therefore prohibited. Suppliers shall not place on the market products designed with a software able to detect an ongoing test and to react specifically by automatically altering their performance. However, in current ecodesign regulations, this requirement does not exist; it will be added in the next revision.
Future legislation - the ESPR
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR) aims to make products sold in the EU more sustainable by improving how long they last, how well they can be recycled, their energy efficiency, and how easily they can be reused.
It also focuses on creating a strong and fair market for sustainable products across the EU.
The ESPR will ultimately replace the Ecodesign Directive. Until December 2026 the Ecodesign Directive continues to frame the implementation of new requirements for energy-related products under the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2022-2024, adopted on the 30th of March 2022.
The ESPR is a type of framework legislation and lays the foundation for the subsequent adoption of concrete rules, either on a product-by-product basis or horizontally - based on groups of products with similar characteristics.
The process will begin with a prioritisation exercise. In the first half of 2025, the Commission will adopt the first ESPR working plan, setting out which products will be prioritised over the coming years. Development of product rules will then start, based on inclusive planning, detailed impact assessments and regular stakeholder consultation within a dedicated Ecodesign Forum.
Find out more about the implementation of the ESPR here: https://green-business.ec.europa.eu/implementing-ecodesign-sustainable-products-regulation_en
New rules for designing products
The ESPR introduces new rules for designing products -known as ‘ecodesign requirements’ – for almost all categories of physical goods, including:
- Improving product durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability.
- Enhancing the possibility of product maintenance and refurbishment.
- Making products more energy and resource-efficient.
- Addressing the presence of substances that inhibit circularity.
- Increasing recycled content.
- Making products easier to remanufacture and recycle.
- Setting rules on carbon and environmental footprints.
- Limiting the generation of waste.
- Improving the availability of information on product sustainability.
New measures
The ESPR also contains several other new measures:
· Digital product passport.
· Rules to address the destruction of unsold consumer products.
· Green Public Procurement.
These changes will ensure the same rules apply across all EU countries, preventing different laws in each country. They will also open new opportunities for businesses, particularly in areas like repairing, recycling, and creating innovative, sustainable products.
Find more information about the new measures here: https://green-business.ec.europa.eu/implementing-ecodesign-sustainable-products-regulation_en#digital-product-passport
Where to find specific types of information in the product regulations?
The content of each product-specific regulation differs, but the structure of the regulations is typically very similar:
- Introduction with general information; no obligations are addressed here.
- Articles: Providing general information on scope, definitions etc.
- Article 1 – Specification of the scope of the regulation (i.e., which products are covered, also indicating exempted product types)
- Article 2 – List of technical definitions
- Article 3 – Indication concerning minimum requirements (which are specified in detail in the annex)
- Article 4 – Basic information concerning the proof of product conformity by suppliers (described in more detail in the annex)
- Article 5 – Basic information on the conformity check procedure by MSAs
- Article 6 – Information that any measures leading to circumvention are forbidden
- Article 7 – Obligations related to software updates
- Article 8 – Reference to benchmarks for best-performing products (provided in the annex)
- Article 9 – Approximate date of the revision of the regulation and topics to be considered for the revision
- Further articles might include various information (amend other regulations, put them out of force and define transitional measures, e.g., which obligations can be applied when during the shift from an current to a new regulation)
- The last article specifies the data of entry into force of the regulation
- Annexes
All regulations contain several annexes, where the various requirements of the regulation are explained in detail. Typically, the following annexes are included:- Annex I – Lists further definitions needed for the annexes
- Annex II – Provides detailed descriptions of the ecodesign requirements
- Annex III – Provides explanations, how parameters shall be measured or calculated by suppliers (if not specified in (harmonized) standards)
- Annex IV – Specifies, how MSAs have to check product compliance
- Annex V – Lists benchmarks for relevant parameters of currently best-performing products