EU rules ban destruction of unsold clothing and footwear

The Delegated and Implementing Acts of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) are in effect in the EU as of Feb. 9. Companies will have one year – until February 2027 – to comply.

However, bans on and derogations for the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories or footwear take effect this July 19 for large companies and in 2030 for medium-size companies. ESPR rules on disclosure apply already to large companies (see “Sizing up companies,” below) and will apply to medium-sized companies in 2030.

The Delegated Act stipulates the conditions under which the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes is permitted (e.g., for safety or because of damage), while the Implementing Act standardizes procedures for the disclosure of discarded items.

National authorities will be charged with oversight.

ESPR’s effects

We previewed ESPR a year ago. It is replacing the earlier Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, which applied to energy-related products, and broadens the scope to “virtually all physical products” – the few exceptions including food, feed and drugs. As the European Commission says, its requirements relate to “durability, circularity and the overall reduction of the environmental and climate footprint of products, amongst many others.” For instance:

• 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

Digital Product Passport

In addition, the ESPR introduces the Digital Product Passport (DPP), whose full details are as yet undetermined. The public consultation ran last year from April to July, and the drafting of the act should soon be underway. The Commission plans to adopt the act in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The ESPR lays down criteria for the DPP in Chapter III, especially in Article 10. To simplify:

• the DPP shall be connected through a data carrier to a persistent unique product identifier
• the data carrier shall be physically present on the product, its packaging or on documentation accompanying the product
• the data carrier and the unique product identifier shall comply with one or more of the standards in Annex III, second paragraph, or equivalent European or international standards until harmonized standards are published in the Official Journal
• all data included shall be based on open standards and be machine-readable, structured, searchable, and transferable through an open interoperable data exchange network without vendor lock-in
• personal data relating to customers shall not be stored without their consent
• the data included shall refer to a product model, batch or item
• access to data included shall be regulated