Late on Dec. 4, 2023, the European Commission, Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement, at a technical level, on revising the European Union’s ”Ecodesign” framework for sustainable products. The parties plan to introduce a new framework to make products sustainable by design, ban the destruction of unsold clothing and footwear, and ensure that sustainability requirements are prioritized for goods such as steel, textiles, furniture, tires and chemicals, it noted.
The negotiators for the parliament and council agreed on an update to the so-called “Ecodesign” directive to make products more durable and reliable, easier to reuse, upgrade, repair and recycle, and use fewer resources, energy and water. The European Commission will outline specific product requirements through secondary legislation, the parliament said in a statement.
The parties also agreed that Ecodesign requirements should also address practices associated with premature obsolescence.
At the parliament’s initiative, negotiators agreed that the European Commission should prioritize several product groups in its first working plan to be adopted no later than nine months after the entry of the new legislation into force. The priority products include iron, steel, aluminum, textiles (notably apparel and footwear), furniture, tires, detergents, paints, lubricants and chemicals.
Digital product passports
The EU plans digital “product passports” containing information enabling “consumers to make informed purchasing choices.” According to the agreed text, the European Commission will manage a public web portal allowing consumers to search and compare information included in product passports.
Under the proposed legislation, economic operators that destroy unsold goods will have to report annually the quantities of products they discarded and their reasons why. The parliament and the council agreed to specifically ban the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear, two years after the entry into force of the law. The delay is extended to six years for medium-sized enterprises. In the future, the European Commission may add additional categories to the list of unsold products for which a destruction ban should be introduced, parliament pointed out.
The parliament’s rapporteur Alessandra Moretti said, “It is time to end the model of ‘take, make, dispose’ that is so harmful to our planet, our health and our economy. New products will be designed in a way that benefits all, respects our planet and protects the environment. Sustainable products will become the norm, allowing consumers to save energy, repair and make smart environmental choices when they are shopping. Banning the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear will also contribute to a shift in how fast fashion manufacturers produce their goods.”
Jean-Pierre Schweitzer, Policy Manager of Circular Economy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), said: “The agreement on the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation represents a significant step towards the Green Deal objective to make sustainable products the norm. Future requirements within this framework must now ensure that products such as textiles, furniture and intermediaries such as steel become more circular, durable and less carbon-intensive. However, it is illogical that harmful practices like the destruction of unsold goods will still be permitted and that imported products sold online will be easily able to ignore the rules.”
The parliament and council now need to approve the agreement before it can come into force formally.
On March 30, 2022, the European Commission proposed a regulation to establish a general framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and to repeal current rules that focus on energy-related products only. The revised regulations, part of a circular economy package, would apply to almost all products on the EU’s internal market except food, feed, medicinal products and living organisms.
