Energy Labelling and Ecodesign: What Moved in 2026

Three things moved, one changes obligations today

For companies selling energy-related products or consumer goods in the EU, the summer of 2026 brought three developments that are easy to confuse:

1. The Commission proposed to simplify the rules on energy and tyre labels.
2. A legal deadline in the Energy Labelling Regulation for heater labels arrived on 2 August 2026.
3. The ban on destroying unsold clothing and footwear under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation began to apply on 19 July 2026.

Only the third changes what companies must do today. The proposal is not law, and the heater deadline is an obligation on the Commission, not on suppliers. This article explains each one, and what it means for your labels and processes.

The June 2026 proposal: COM(2026) 565

On 24 June 2026 the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation amending the Energy Labelling Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, and the Tyre Labelling Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2020/740, “as regards simplification and better use of digital options for energy and tyre labelling”. The proposal is part of the Commission’s simplification work on energy-related product legislation.

It is a Commission proposal. It now goes to the European Parliament and the Council under the ordinary legislative procedure, and its content can change before it is adopted. Until then, nothing in it applies.

What the proposal would change

According to the proposal and its explanatory memorandum, the main changes would be:

• Printed labels. Today each unit placed on the market must come with a printed label. The proposal would remove that default rule, without introducing a “digital only” system. Dealers would keep the right to ask suppliers for printed labels, and could show the label in shops on digital screens.
• Product information sheets. These would become fully electronic, available through EPREL, the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling.
• EPREL registration. Suppliers would no longer upload a separate label image, because EPREL generates the label. The QR code and the EPREL registration number would have to be passed along the supply chain.
• Authorised representatives. An authorised representative acting for a non-EU manufacturer would get a duty to cooperate with market surveillance authorities, and a signed copy of its mandate would have to be added to EPREL as a condition for registration.
• Rescaling. Products bearing the old label could be marketed and sold, in shops and online, for 12 months from the official rescaling date, instead of the current short changeover.
• Installers. Installers who sell energy-labelled products as part of their services would be covered by the dealer obligations.
• EPREL and the digital product passport. Where EPREL already holds equivalent information, products would not need to be registered again in the registry for the digital product passport under the ESPR.

If adopted in this form, the changes would reduce printing and label handling, especially when a label is rescaled. But they would also put more weight on correct EPREL data, because the database becomes the source of the label.

Today’s rules still apply

Until the proposal is adopted, suppliers and dealers work under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 and the product-specific delegated regulations. That means, among other things:

• suppliers ensure that each unit is accompanied by a printed label (Article 3(1));
• suppliers enter a new model in the product database, EPREL, before placing a unit of it on the market (Article 4(1));
• when a label is rescaled, suppliers provide both the existing and the rescaled labels to dealers for a period beginning four months before the date set for displaying the rescaled label (Article 11(13)(a)).

Our Energy Labelling Regulation guide and the problem page Our product needs an energy label and EPREL registration cover the current duties. For tyres, see the Tyre Labelling Regulation guide.

Heater labels and the 2 August 2026 deadline

The Energy Labelling Regulation of 2017 requires the Commission to move existing labels to a homogeneous A to G scale, with earlier deadlines for most product groups in Article 11(4) and (5)(b). Article 11(5)(a) sets a separate timetable for three groups:

• space heaters and combination heaters (Delegated Regulation (EU) No 811/2013);
• water heaters and hot water storage tanks (Delegated Regulation (EU) No 812/2013);
• solid fuel boilers (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1187).

For these, the Commission was to present reviews by 2 August 2025 and, where appropriate, adopt delegated acts introducing rescaled A to G labels by 2 August 2026. In any event, the rescaled labels must be adopted no later than 2 August 2030.

This is a deadline for the Commission, not a date from which suppliers must show a new label. A rescaled heater label only applies once a delegated act is adopted and published, and that act will set its own dates. Suppliers of heaters should follow the delegated acts, not the 2026 deadline itself.

The destruction ban now applies

The one change that already binds companies comes from ecodesign. Under Article 25(1) of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the destruction of unsold consumer products listed in Annex VII has been prohibited since 19 July 2026, subject to the derogations provided for in Article 25(5). Annex VII lists apparel and clothing accessories and footwear.

The prohibition does not apply to micro and small enterprises, and it applies to medium-sized enterprises only from 19 July 2030. Companies that are not covered may not destroy unsold products supplied to them in order to get around the ban (Article 25(2)).

For fashion and footwear companies, this means stock planning, returns handling, resale and donation have become compliance topics. See our problem page on ecodesign requirements and the glossary entry for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

How Conphora helps

Labelling rules change through proposals, delegated acts and deadlines that are easy to misread. With Conphora you can:

• Keep EPREL registration numbers, labels and product information sheets next to each model.
• Track which rules apply today and which are only proposed, per product group.
• Plan label changes when a delegated act sets a rescaling date.
• Document how unsold stock is handled, so you can show that the destruction ban is respected.

See how Conphora works and how it keeps your product data in step with the rules.

Want one place for labels, EPREL data and deadlines? See plans and pricing →

Sources

• European Commission: Proposal for a regulation on simplification and better use of digital options for energy and tyre labelling (24 June 2026)
• COM(2026) 565 final, EUR-Lex
• Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 (Energy Labelling Regulation), EUR-Lex
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation), EUR-Lex