Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 establishes a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements that products have to comply with to be placed on the market or put into service, with the aim of making sustainable products the norm and reducing their carbon and environmental footprint over the life cycle (Article 1). It applies to any physical goods placed on the market, including components and intermediate products, with a short list of exclusions such as food, feed, medicinal products and vehicles covered by their own rules. It entered into force on 18 July 2024 and on the same date repealed the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, whose existing implementing measures for energy-related products remain in force for a transitional period (Article 79).
The regulation itself sets no product requirements. Article 4 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts laying down ecodesign requirements per product group, covering the aspects listed in Article 5: durability, reliability, reusability, upgradability, repairability, the presence of substances of concern, energy, water and resource efficiency, recycled content, recyclability, carbon and environmental footprint and expected waste generation. Requirements can be performance requirements or information requirements, and the central information tool is the digital product passport (Articles 9 to 13). Article 25 prohibits, from 19 July 2026, the destruction of unsold consumer products listed in Annex VII, at first apparel, clothing accessories and footwear. Micro and small enterprises are exempt, and medium-sized enterprises are exempt for a further six years.
The Commission adopted its first ESPR working plan in April 2025, naming the priority product groups for the coming years. For a manufacturer the practical work begins when the delegated act for its product group is published: each act specifies the requirements, the conformity assessment module, the passport content and a date of application that is normally at least 18 months later.