European Council Gives Final Green Light to Eco-Design for Sustainable Products (ESPR) Regulation

07 Jun 2024

New rules on the eco-design of products are now ready to become binding legislation in all EU member states. On May 27th 2024, the European Council gave the final green light to the Regulation on Eco-design of Sustainable Products (ESPR), the cornerstone of the Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products, which is based on the existing Eco-design Directive, which currently only covers energy-related products.

The regulation governs virtually all products placed on the market or put into service in the EU, not limited to consumer products. Currently, there are only a very limited exclusions (e.g. food, feed, medicinal products).

The framework will allow for the setting of a wide range of requirements, including:

Product Durability, Reusability, Upgradability & Reparability
Presence of Substances that inhibit Circularity
Energy & Resource Efficiency
Recycled Content
Remanufacturing & Recycling
Carbon & Environmental Footprints
Information Requirements, including a Digital Product Passport

The new regulation will improve EU products’ circularity, energy performance and other environmental sustainability aspects.

The rule has been signed on June 13th 2024 and it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and become effective 20 days after publication. Companies marketing products in the EU are advised to start assessing the impact of ESPR for their products and start getting prepared. This concerns especially first-priority products, including finished products such as textiles (especially clothing and footwear) and electrical and electronic products, as well as intermediate products such as aluminium, iron and steel.

As a recognized leader in Sustainability, SGS can support your preparations for ESPR in various ways, including:

Required Data	SGS Services
Substances of Concern	Risk evaluation & Analytical testing Training on Hazardous substance process control system & Green manufacturing audit SGS Green Mark (Hazardous Substances Assessed)
Product information (user manual, product certification, etc)	Eco-design assessment, measurement and testing Internal Design Control or Management System Assessment Product manual / label & Marking review Training & Guidance on Technical Documentation File (TDF) & Declaration of Conformity (DOC)
Product Durability / Reparability	Energy efficiency, durability & performance testing Training & Product case study on reparability index Technical documentation on energy specifications (EEL) review
Material Circularity & Traceability	Value-chain due diligence Audit & Cerification Assessment of material recycling attributes, including WEEE product assessment & recycling efficiency SGS Green Mark (Recycled Content / Biobased Content)
Carbon & Environmental Footprints	Quantification & Verification of Product carbon footprint of Product (PCF) by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Training on product sustainability requirements & relevant standards SGS Green Mark (Product Carbon Footprint / Environmentally Evaluated)
* Remark: Service availability depends on product category.

As an established sustainability leader with unrivalled expertise, SGS is your ideal partner to support your sustainability journey.

For enquiries, please contact our Customer Service team for details!

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