EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 30.3.2022 COM(2022) 142 final 2022/0095(COD) Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC (Text with EEA relevance) {SEC(2022) 165 final} - {SWD(2022) 81 final} - {SWD(2022) 82 final} - {SWD(2022) 83 final}



EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL •Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The main objectives of this regulation are to reduce the negative life cycle environmental impacts of products and improve the functioning of the internal market. These objectives seek to resolve the problems and their causes analysed in the impact assessment. They reflect the fact that products are available on the internal market that generate unnecessary adverse environmental impacts. This Regulation also contributes to the objectives of EU industrial policy to boost the supply of and demand for sustainable goods, deliver on sustainable production, and ensure a level playing field for products sold on the internal market. Industry needs harmonised requirements applicable across the board, efficient means to comply with them, proper enforcement, reinforced market surveillance and customs controls based on a risk analysis. Products play a vital role in the lives of EU citizens and the number, range and variety of products on offer to us are constantly increasing. With the technological leaps that have taken place over past decades, our reliance on them has also increased: from the ICT products that kept us connected during the COVID-19 crisis, to the furniture and the appliances that help to run our homes on a daily basis. The free circulation of products is essential to ensuring the functioning of the internal market, which remains the foundation for EU companies’ competitiveness and for consumers’ choice. By applying the Ecodesign approach to a very broad range of products and enabling it to set a wide range of targeted product requirements, this regulation seeks to address the most detrimental environmental impacts of products. It therefore lays down a framework for setting ecodesign requirements based on the sustainability and circularity aspects listed in the Circular Economy Action Plan, such as product durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability, the presence of substances of concern in products, product energy and resource efficiency, recycled content of products, product remanufacturing and high-quality recycling, and for reducing products’ carbon and environmental footprints. In doing so, it will contribute to achieving the EU’s overall climate, environmental and energy goals, while supporting economic growth, job creation and social inclusion. By making materials last for longer, ensuring their value is retained for as long as possible and boosting the use of recycled content in products, it will promote decoupling of economic development from natural resource use and reduction of material dependencies – thus fostering EU open strategic autonomy and resilience. Several recent events have reminded us of the possible vulnerabilities of global supply chains. This regulation is part of a package of initiatives presented by the Commission relating to sustainable products and fostering sustainable product choices. The package includes targeted sectoral initiatives on textiles and construction products, which address products with most significant impacts on the environment and climate, and an initiative to empower the consumers in the green transition, through better protection against unfair practices and better information. Finally, until this regulation is in place, the Commission will ensure work under the existing Ecodesign Directive continues, including via adoption of a new Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan for the period 2022–2024, addressing new energy-related products and updating and increasing the ambition of those already regulated. •Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area This regulation will broaden the scope of the Ecodesign Directive both in terms of products and new kinds of requirements. For reasons of legal clarity, the Ecodesign Directive should therefore be repealed. Given the wide scope of the proposed regulation, it is necessary to define in so far as possible how it relates to existing legislation applicable to the products covered, and to other initiatives linked to or relevant its goals. The aim is to prevent duplication so as to minimise the administrative burden for businesses and authorities. The general approach is that this Regulation will set requirements where existing legislation does not, or where it insufficiently addresses environmental sustainability aspects. The general principle of law, lex specialis derogat legi generali, (where more specific rules will prevail over more general rules) will therefore apply. To be more specific, the approach covers two categories: product-specific legislation and legislation addressing horizontal aspects. Product-specific legislation refers to legislation focused on a specific product or well-defined product group, often regulating mainly safety aspects (e.g. on batteries, toys, detergents and packaging). It is not feasible to provide specifications for every piece of existing product-specific legislation at the general level of this Regulation. However, before setting concrete requirements at product-specific level through measures under this Regulation, the Commission will assess in detail any potential overlaps or conflicts with existing legislation to avoid duplicating requirements and putting an excessive burden on businesses. As a matter of principle, this Regulation will only apply to products not covered by existing legislation, or when legislation does not sufficiently address the sustainability of those products. In addition, product-specific requirements under this Regulation will be included in delegated acts and as such cannot supersede requirements set through legislative acts such as directives or regulations (although they can be more specific), following the principle of the hierarchy of norms. In relation to construction products in particular, whilst these will be in the scope of this Regulation, given the need to manage the strong interlinkages between their environmental and structural performance, including their health and safety, ecodesign requirements will be laid down under the revised Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (the Construction Products Regulation), except for energy-related construction products, which are already regulated under the existing Ecodesign Directive. Legislation governing horizontal aspects refers to legislation that addresses or can address horizontal aspects under this Regulation of a broad range of products, such as the REACH rules that govern chemicals and grant empowerments in relation to chemical substances in products. Where legislation already addresses or may address specific aspects covered by this Regulation in a more horizontal manner, there is the clear need and possibility to specify how this relates to this Regulation at a more general level. Similarly, this Regulation will also build upon the general framework set for market surveillance in the Market Surveillance Regulation, while tailoring the provisions where needed to the specific aims of the Initiative. Please see Section 7.9 as well as Annex 14 to the impact assessment, which details how the Initiative interacts and is consistent with existing and emerging legislation. Finally, the Energy Labelling Regulation will continue to apply in parallel to the proposed regulation to energy-related products. Coherence will be ensured. This means, for instance, that as a principle such products must only bear the energy label specified under the Energy Labelling Regulation. •Consistency with other Union policies This Regulation builds on several Union policies. The bedrock for this initiative is the European Green Deal, the growth strategy to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. The European Green Deal also announced the new industrial strategy for Europe and the Circular Economy Action Plan, published together in in March 2020.

The European Commission’s 2020 industrial strategy for Europe sets out the EU’s overarching ambition to foster a ‘twin transition’ to climate neutrality and digital leadership. It echoes the European Green Deal in highlighting the leading role that Europe’s industry must play in this, by reducing its carbon and material footprint and embedding circularity across the economy. It underlines the need to move away from traditional models, and revolutionise the way we design, make, use and dispose of products. In 2021, the Commission published an update to the industrial strategy, which reinforces the main messages of the 2020 strategy and provides a range of additional implementation tools. The Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) aims, amongst other aspects, to stimulate the development of lead markets for climate-neutral and sustainable products, in the EU and beyond. To achieve this, it establishes a sustainable product policy framework, including measures in three broad areas: fostering sustainable product design; empowering consumers and public buyers; and promoting circularity in production processes. While the three areas of the sustainable product policy framework are synergetic with each other, this regulation focuses primarily on the measures set out under the first area (sustainable product design) that aim to make products fit for a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy, reduce waste and ensure that the performance of frontrunners in sustainability progressively becomes the norm. As announced in the CEAP, the core of this legislative initiative is to extend the scope of the Ecodesign Directive beyond energy-related products so that it covers the broadest possible range of products and helps achieve a circular economy. The product requirements set out in this legislation should complement and strengthen the requirements set under other CEAP initiatives. In particular, the product requirements set in this legislation should help achieve the objectives and be in line with other measures on key value chains defined in implementation of the CEAP, such as the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles. Furthermore, the Empowering consumers for the green transition initiative will improve information on products at the point of sale in particular on their durability and reparability, and help prevent greenwashing and premature obsolescence. The upcoming Commission initiative on Green Claims will also complement measures in this legislation, by increasing the reliability, comparability and verifiability of environmental claims about products, via requirements that such claims be substantiated and verified using life-cycle analysis methods, including the Product Environmental Footprint method. In addition, the objectives of this legislation will be further supported by the legislation on Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence, in particular the environmental due diligence rules it lays down for companies. Finally, the requirements will also contribute to achieving EU climate goals: they will synergise with and complement instruments with more direct climate focus by going beyond the production of basic materials/basic material components to cover final products themselves. This will allow for taking action on negative impacts generated along the entire value chain (including the embedded emissions of a product throughout its lifecycle, or other negative consequences), directly supporting Green Deal objectives and consistent with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. 2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY •Legal basis The proposal is based on Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which is to be used for measures aiming at the establishment and functioning of the internal market. The Ecodesign Directive (which the Commission proposes to repeal by this regulation) was itself based on Article 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (now Article 114 TFEU). The issues tackled by this initiative are related to the internal market, including the uneven playing field for companies attempting to implement more sustainable approaches or the fact current EU rules only partially cover sustainability aspects of products. This means that there is no comprehensive set of requirements to ensure that all products placed on the EU market become increasingly sustainable. As a result, the Member States have begun to adopt multiple approaches at national level (leading to internal market fragmentation) and the enforcement of current Ecodesign rules is insufficient and uneven. The lack of sufficient and comprehensive internal market rules leaves room for initiatives developed by Member States or by industries that impair the functioning of the internal market by giving rise to potential barriers, fragmentation and incoherent approaches. In addition, in the absence of a comprehensive set of requirements defining product’s environmental sustainability, or ecodesign requirements, the same product considered sustainable in one Member State might not qualify as sustainable in another Member State. What’s more, recently adopted national legislation is likely to oblige manufacturers (and retailers) operating across EU borders to comply with a range of different national obligations varying from one Member State to another. These new national obligations, ranging from information requirements on technical operations performed on refurbished electronic devices, on the duration of software compatibility in France, to reporting obligations on handling unsold durable goods in Germany, give clear indications of a trend to take regulatory action by setting ecodesign requirements on goods. As a consequence, without EU action, there will inevitably be an increase in national obligations and increased market fragmentation. The problems outlined above are the rationale for basing this proposal on Article 114 TFEU. •Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence) The necessity test questions whether the objectives of a proposal can be sufficiently achieved by action taken by Member States alone. On this test, it is essential to put in place a harmonised set of rules to achieve a harmonised and well-functioning internal market for sustainable products across all Member States, and therefore a level playing field for businesses operating on the internal market. This includes product requirements and the obligation to provide reliable information to users. Member States alone would not be able to enact measures of this scope without creating divergences in the requirements for business and obstacles to the free movement of products, regulatory burden and excessive costs for business. In addition, action taken by Member States alone would inevitably give rise to different tools that would render consumer choices more complicated. If Member States take individual action there would therefore be a high risk of ending up with different competing systems based on different methods and approaches, especially for products traded across the internal market. This fragments the market and is likely to lead to differing levels of awareness and information on the environmental performance of products across the EU and additional costs for companies trading across EU Member States. The effectiveness test checks whether action at EU level is more effective than action at national level. On this test, only EU-level action can set harmonised product requirements and information requirements on sustainability aspects applicable across the EU, ensuring the free movement of goods and providing consumers with relevant and reliable information about sustainable characteristics and circular features of products in whatever Member State they are purchased. There is clear added value in setting requirements at EU level, as this will create a harmonised and well-functioning internal market across all Member States and, therefore, a level playing field for businesses operating on the internal market . With harmonised minimum and information requirements set at EU level, sustainable products and circular practices will be promoted in all Member States, creating a larger and more efficient market and hence greater incentives for industry to develop them. Finally, the size of the internal market provides a critical mass enabling the EU to promote product sustainability and influence product design and value chain management worldwide. •Proportionality The proposal does not go beyond what is necessary to provide a regulatory framework for the development of ecodesign requirements for the broadest possible range of products. The Commission will continue the approach followed for the Ecodesign Directive of issuing implementing measures, based on impact assessments carried out in line with the Commission’s Better Regulation guidelines. Therefore it will carry out an analysis of the economic and environmental impacts of different options for each set of requirements. This will allow for proportionality to be maintained. The proposal is designed as a flexible framework as a means of ensuring proportionality. For this reason, it will not set any criteria or targets for the requirements unless they are justified on the basis of a prior assessment. To ensure proportionality, each individual requirement will need to be justified before being applied to any product group. Setting requirements, criteria or targets at the level of well-defined product groups will enable a careful assessment of impacts. It will enable the Commission to take account of the added value and proportionality of setting requirements, targets or criteria depending on the inherent characteristics of the products, their manufacturing processes and their market situation.

•Choice of the instrument A regulation will set direct requirements for all operators, thus providing the necessary legal certainty and scope for enforcement of a fully integrated market across the EU. A regulation also ensures that the obligations are implemented at the same time and in the same way in all 27 Member States. 3.RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS •Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation In March 2019, the Commission published a staff working document entitled Sustainable Products in a Circular Economy - Towards an EU Product Policy Framework contributing to the Circular Economy. This examined the extent to which EU policies affecting products contribute to the transition to a circular economy, and where there is potential to make a stronger contribution. It found that there is no overarching, integrated EU policy instrument covering the sustainable production and consumption of all products and/or the availability and reliability of information on these products to consumers. Though successive evaluations of the Ecodesign Directive have confirmed that it is clearly relevant and effective as a regulatory tool, they identified potential to improve implementation and enforcement. These evaluations, for example, noted that ‘while it is broadly recognised that the energy efficiency aspects of the SCP/SIP action plan and of EU resource efficiency policy can be served by the Ecodesign Directive and the implementing measures, is also suggested by some Member State representatives and by environmental NGOs that there have been missed opportunities as a result of the limited coverage in implementing measures of other environmental aspects’. The evaluation also highlighted the untapped potential of the Directive to address aspects beyond energy efficiency, concluding that ‘there may have been non-energy improvements that have not been addressed as a result of the product scope, policy choices or the underlying technical analysis’. •Stakeholder consultations In line with the Better Regulation guidelines, several consultation activities took place. –Consultation on an inception impact assessment from 14 September to 16 November 2020. 193 responses received. –An open public consultation from 17 March to 9 June 2021. 626 responses received. –A series of workshops from April to July 2021, on different topics related to Sustainable Product Initiative, widely attended by participants from several stakeholder groups. –A survey of small and medium-sized enterprises from 26 April to 15 June 2021. 332 responses received. –A second targeted survey for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from 20 October to 4 November 2021. This drew primarily on the expertise of organisations representing SMEs. 35 replies received. –Tailored questionnaires submitted to selected stakeholder representatives from 20 May to 9 June 2021. –A number of stakeholder interviews conducted with selected stakeholder representatives. Overall, the consultation activities demonstrated strong general support for a regulatory initiative covering product sustainability. Most stakeholders advocated for the initiative to cover a wide product scope and take a whole life cycle approach to product regulation. It indicated strong support to extend the scope of the current Ecodesign Directive, with general agreement that the sectors identified in the 2020 circular economy action plan should be prioritised. The feedback showed a preference (in particular from manufacturers/importers) for an approach that takes product specificities firmly into account. There is general agreement that the lack of clear, comprehensive and binding legislation, and the lack of trustworthy information are all barriers to increasing the availability of sustainable products on the EU market, as is uneven enforcement of ecodesign requirements. The idea to bring in a digital product passport is generally supported by clear majorities across all stakeholder groups, as are incentives and tools to stimulate demand for sustainable products. Stronger enforcement and market surveillance activities (e.g. inspections or audits) are seen as necessary to accompany implementation of this initiative. Detailed conclusions from the stakeholder consultations are set out in Annex 2 to the impact assessment. •Collection and use of expertise The Commission awarded a contract to external experts to carry out a study to feed into the impact assessment accompanying this proposal. This study provided part of the data underlying the analysis of the policy options set out in that document, and in turn fed into the measures included in the current proposal. The external experts worked in close cooperation with the Commission throughout the different phases of the study. •Impact assessment

The proposal is based on an impact assessment. After resolving the issues raised in the Regulatory Scrutiny Board’s negative opinion issued on 17 September 2021, the impact assessment received a positive opinion on 21 January 2022. In its final opinion, the Board asked for additional details on the choice of options, the method to be employed under the regulation and how the rules for digital product passports will be laid down in practice. The main problem this initiative seeks to remedy, its related sub-problems, and the policy options identified are detailed in Sections 2 and 5.2 of the impact assessment. The preferred combination of options is described in detail in Section 7 of the impact assessment. Annex 10 to the impact assessment provides a summary overview of the costs and benefits of all sub-options analysed, while Annex 12 provides more information on the costs and benefits likely to be associated with the preferred combination of options. All these aspects are summarised in the executive summary accompanying the impact assessment. Due to the framework architecture foreseen, exact costs stemming from the requirements are difficult to estimate with precision. Most will be incurred only in a second stage, following the enactment of the secondary legislation. The dedicated impact assessments that will be done in connection to each delegated act in the future will assess in detail the impacts expected, including on third country operators, also in light of their WTO notification. It should be noted that, due to the adoption of the Commission Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence during the preparation of this initiative, it was deemed appropriate to exclude requirements on social aspects from the scope of this legislative proposal. As specified in the legal text, an evaluation will take place after 8 years from the date of application of this Regulation. Among other aspects, this evaluation may consider the inclusion of social requirements in the regulatory framework. •Regulatory fitness and simplification This regulation is expected to create a level playing field for businesses operating on the internal market. The harmonised requirements proposed at EU level are likely to reduce overall compliance costs, given that they are likely to replace multiple existing or planned requirements at national level. Producers that use more sustainable production and transparent supply chains are expected to gain EU market share and increase their competitiveness over producers that use less sustainable methods. Though SMEs suggested that certain negative impacts may stem from some of the measures under the preferred combination of policy options identified in the impact assessment, many also expressed the belief that these can be offset and bring added value over time (due to reduced material expenditure, increased customer loyalty, better access to the market for greener products, reputational benefits etc.). In addition, the Commission has looked specifically at ways to mitigate the negative impacts on SMEs. These are detailed in Annex 19 to the accompanying impact assessment, and in specific provisions of the current proposal. For consultation purposes, in continuation of the successful example of the existing Consultation Forum under the Ecodesign Directive, the proposal establishes an Ecodesign Forum with a balanced participation of Member States’ representatives and all interested parties such as industry, including small and medium-sized enterprises and craft industry, trade unions, traders, retailers, importers, environmental protection groups and consumer organisations. The Ecodesign Forum is limited to providing expertise to the Commission on the working plan and on the preparation of ecodesign requirements, before the Commission formally exercises its delegated powers. The Commission may set up an additional expert group to consult Member States on the delegated acts to be adopted under this Regulation, in accordance with the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. The proposal also includes the creation of a digital product passport to electronically register, process and share product-related information amongst supply chain businesses, authorities and consumers. This is expected to increase transparency, both for supply chain businesses and for the general public, and increase efficiencies in terms of information transfer. In particular, it is likely to help facilitate and streamline the monitoring and enforcement of the regulation carried out by EU and Member State authorities. It is also likely to provide a market-intelligence tool that may be used for revising and refining obligations in the future. The Fit for Future Platform’s opinion on Ecodesign recognised the need to improve the sustainability of products and the necessity to introduce new obligations whilst keeping the burden on business to the minimum. The Platform made nine suggestions that were considered in the design of the new legislation on digitalisation; considering the burdens on SMEs; and ensuring consistency and clarity. For example, enabling consumers to have better access to information whilst ensuring that the Digital Product Passport allows for efficient information flows following best practices; and the possibility of accompanying the measures under this Regulation with mitigating measures so that impacts are expected to remain proportionate for SMEs. •Fundamental rights Ecodesign requirements can have benefits for the protection and promotion of fundamental rights as laid down in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, including on the freedom to conduct a business (Article 16), the right to environmental protection (Article 37) and the right to consumer protection (Article 38). 4.BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS The proposal has limited budgetary implications for the Commission. Specifically, it requires 54 full-time equivalents to fully implement the regulation and the related delegated acts over the period 2022-2027 of the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). New commitments would be needed on existing budget lines, amounting to EUR 23,338 million in Heading 1 of the MFF (Single Market, Innovation and Digital), EUR 43,912 million in Heading 3 (Natural Resources and the Environment) and EUR 38,621 million in Heading 7 (Administrative Expenditure). The new commitments will be covered from the existing budgetary envelopes of the relevant programmes. The budget implications mainly stem from the following work to: –review, between 2022 and 2026, 33 Commission regulations and adopt 5 new measures under the current Ecodesign Directive, which cannot be carried out by staff currently working on implementation of the Directive; –prepare and adopt up to 18 new delegated acts between 2024 and 2027; 12 new delegated acts would also be adopted between 2028 and 2030, with staff and budget implications in 2025-2027;

–prepare implementing acts (on average one per year as from 2024) when this is needed to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, for example in relation to market surveillance, disclosure of information on the destruction of unsold consumer goods or the acknowledgement of self-regulatory measures; and –carry out horizontal tasks related to the digital product passport, support for market surveillance and customs control, and a European circular business hub to support the exchange of experience between economic actors in integrating circularity in product design and manufacturing. In terms of staffing needs, the Commission has looked carefully at ways to share the work between lead DGs, reallocate staff when possible and outsource scientific and technical support for the preparation of delegated and implementing acts and for crosscutting tasks. 5.OTHER ELEMENTS •Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements In accordance with the Better Regulation guidelines published in November 2021 and in particular tool 38, the Commission will draw up an implementation strategy after the legislative proposal has been adopted by the co-legislators. It will present the different compliance promotion tools to be used and will include aspects related to digital implementation. •Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal Article 1 lays down the subject matter of this Regulation, namely a framework for setting ecodesign requirements, creating a digital product passport, and prohibiting the destruction of unsold consumer products. It lays down the product aspects to which the eco-design requirements relate, such as durability and reliability, reusability, upgradability, reparability, and possibility of maintenance and refurbishment, presence of substances of concern, energy and resource efficiency, recycled content. It further sets the scope of the Regulation – only a few sectors, such as food, feed, and medicinal products, are exempted. Article 2 lays down the definitions needed for the purposes of this Regulation. A number of these definitions are taken over from the New Legislative Framework (Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 and Decision 768/2008/EC), from the repealed Ecodesign Directive or from existing Union environmental legislation (such as the Waste Framework Directive). A set of new definitions is brought in, for instance on the provisions on the product passport and on the destruction of unsold consumer products. Article 3 sets out the general principle related to the free movement of products that comply with delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation. Article 4 lays down the empowerments for the Commission to adopt delegated acts to supplement this Regulation by establishing ecodesign requirements, requirements relating to conformity assessment procedures, requirements for the measure of energy consumption or of performance in relation to other parameters, requirements for manufacturers, authorised representatives or importers to provide information to the Commission or market surveillance authorities, requirements on the use of online tools to calculate the performance of products, requirements on alternative rules for the declaration of conformity or for markings and finally, requirements on Member States incentives and on public procurement criteria. Article 5 lays down the general framework for the adoption of ecodesign requirements. It lays down the product aspects that those requirements can improve. It explains that those requirements may apply to one specific product group or horizontally to more product groups, where technical similarities allow for the setting of common requirements. It specifies that ecodesign requirements include performance requirements and information requirements). Finally, it lays down a number of conditions to be met by the Commission when preparing ecodesign requirements, as well as a number of criteria that those requirements would need to meet. It also enables the Commission to require that supply chain actors cooperate with manufacturers, notified bodies and competent national authorities for the verification of products’ compliance with eco-design requirements. Article 6 provides more details about performance requirements, for instance that they can take the form of either a quantitative level or a non-quantitative requirement, set to improve a product aspect, on the basis of selected product parameter(s) (the list of which is in Annex I). Article 7 focuses on information requirements. It establishes that those requirements shall always include requirements related to the product passport and requirements related to substances of concern The Article further details other type of information that can be provided, e.g. information on the performance of a product or information for consumers on how to install or use the product. This information can take the form of ‘classes of performance’ for instance ranging from A to G, to facilitate comparison between products. Finally, the Article specifies the different ways in which the information can be provided (e.g. on the passport, on a website, on a label, etc.). Article 8 sets out the elements that the Commission needs to specify in the information requirements in relation to the digital product passport, for example the information to be included and who has access to what information. Articles 9 to 11 lay down the necessary provision to implement the product passport. Article 9 lays down the general requirement in relation to the product passport. Article 10 provides the essential requirements for the technical design and operation of the product passport. Article 11 lays down the rules related to unique operator and facility identifiers. Article 12 provides for the setting up of a registry storing information included in the products passport, allowing the Commission to specify which information needs to be uploaded Article13 includes the provisions specifying what is expected form customs authorities in relation to the product passport and to what information they should have access to facilitate their work. Article 14 specifies the requirements attached to labels, when they are to be used for a given product group. It explains that in such cases, delegated acts must specify the label’s content (including classes of performance) and layout, and how they are to be displayed to consumers. If the product is already covered by a label as provided for in the Energy Labelling Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, and the information on other parameters, including on other classes of performance, cannot be included in it, that information might be included in a separate label if the Commission finds it appropriate.

Article 15 specifies that economic operators cannot display labels mimicking the labels provided for under this Regulation. Article 16 provides for the Commission to adopt a working plan which must cover at least 3 years and indicates the criteria for prioritising products. The working plan includes an indicative list of product groups that the Commission intends to tackle in the coming years. Article 17 establishes an Ecodesign Forum (expert group). It is based on the existing Consultation Forum established under Directive 2009/125/EC. Article 18 concerns self-regulation measures. These are industry-led measures that can be used as alternatives to delegated acts establishing ecodesign requirements adopted pursuant to Article 5. Directive 2009/125/EC already contained an article on voluntary agreements. Article 17 of this Regulation expands upon the original article from Directive 2009/125/EC. In particular, it lays down what the self-regulation measure should contain, what the industry should submit as evidence to the Commission, and the procedure for the Commission to recognise the self-regulation measure as a valid alternative to a delegated act. Article 19 lays down a number of measures that the Member States and the Commission are required to take to help SMEs with the general implementation of this Regulation and the future delegated acts. Such measures include guidelines, financial assistance and training. Article 20 first establishes a general obligation of transparency for economic operators who discard unsold consumer products. It also provides for the possibility to adopt delegated acts to prohibit economic operators from destroying unsold consumer products. These delegated acts may also contain exemptions to the general prohibition for instance for reasons of health and safety. If such an exemption is used, economic operators also have an obligation of transparency (i.e. disclosing the number of products destroyed, reasons for destruction, etc.). The article does not apply to SMEs, but the delegated act prohibiting the destruction of products may specify that some obligations apply to certain categories of SMEs (micro, small or medium). Articles 21, 22, 23 and 24 lay down obligations of manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors. They are based on standard provisions from Decision 768/2008/EC. Article 25 lays down obligations of dealers (who are typically retailers or sellers) especially in relation to the display of labels and access to the product passport, including in case of (online) distance selling. Article 26 gathers together the different obligations that the economic operators have to comply with if the delegated act requires the product to have a label (e.g. providing dealers with labels). Article 27 concerns obligations of fulfilment service providers, namely ensuring that when they handle a product, the conditions during warehousing, packaging, addressing or dispatching do not jeopardise the products’ compliance with the ecodesign requirements. Article 28 is a standard article from Decision 768/2008/EC, which lays down the two cases in which manufacturers’ obligations apply to importers and distributors. Article 29 sets out the obligations of online marketplaces and online search engines in particular concerning cooperation with market surveillance authorities. It also specifies that market surveillance authorities should have the power to order an online marketplace to remove illegal content. Article 30 lays down the possibility for future delegated acts to require economic operators to make the technical documentation available digitally without request. Further, in order to assess market penetration of products for which ecodesign requirements have been set, the Article requires economic operators to provide information about products supplied. Article 31 specifies that products should be able, where appropriate, to measure the energy they consume while in use, or its performance in relation to other relevant parameters and to make this data available to the end user. When so established in a delegated act manufacturers shall collect, anonymise and report this data to the Commission. Chapter VIII on the conformity of products is mostly standard provisions on how to assess the conformity of products. It concerns: –the use of reliable, accurate and reproducible methods for tests, measurements and calculations (Article 32); –harmonised standards providing a presumption of conformity (Article 34); –the possibility for the Commission to adopt common specifications where harmonised standards are not available (Article 35); –the conformity assessment procedures (Article 36); –the EU declaration of conformity (Article 37); and

–the CE marking (Articles 38 and 39) and the possibility to use alternative markings (Article 40). Noteworthy in this standard Chapter are the presumption of conformity with ecodesign requirements for products bearing the Union Ecolabel (Article 34) and the possibility to amend, in the delegated act, the relevant conformity assessment module depending on the product at stake (Article 36). Article 33 concerns the prevention of circumvention. For instance, products designed to be able to detect they are being tested and automatically altering their performance to a more favourable result will not be permitted on the market. Chapter IX (Articles 41 to 56) concerns the notification of conformity assessment bodies and consists of standard provisions based on Decision 768/2008/EC, combined with targeted enhancements of those provisions to ensure legal clarity and further strengthen the independence, competence and monitoring of notified bodies. Article 57 provides that if Member States adopt incentives to reward products, those incentives should, in principle, target the highest two populated classes of performance or that bear the EU Ecolabel. In case no class of performance is set, or the class of performance is based on several product parameters, the Commission can further specify in a delegated act how the Member States incentives must work. Article 58 concerns green public procurement and more specifically the possibility for delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation to establish requirements applicable to public contracts (e.g. technical specifications, selection criteria, award criteria, etc.), based on the product parameters listed in annex to this Regulation. Chapter XI concerns market surveillance. It generally builds upon the obligations that exist under the Market Surveillance Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, while providing for some more specific obligations where relevant for this Regulation. Article 59 requires Member States to draw up an action plan for market surveillance activities, which must include ‘priorities for market surveillance’, to be identified based on a number of criteria laid down in the Article, and the nature and number of checks planned. Article 60 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts setting out a minimum number of checks to be performed on specific products. Article 61 makes reference to the information and communication system under the Market Surveillance Regulation (ICSMS) and requires Member States to enter information on penalties imposed pursuant to this Regulation. On that basis, the Commission is required to adopt a report including indicative benchmarks on the frequency of checks and the nature and severity of penalties imposed. Article 62 makes reference to the administrative cooperation group (‘ADCO’) set up pursuant to the Market Surveillance Regulation and sets out its role in the context of this Regulation. This role includes identifying common priorities for Member States’ action plans or priorities for Union support (such as joint market surveillance and testing projects, joint investment in market surveillance capacities, including equipment and IT tools, common training sessions, and guidelines). Chapter XII concerns safeguard procedures and is based on standard provisions. Article 61 sets out the procedure to be followed by a national market surveillance authority where it considers that a product presents a risk. In such case, the national market surveillance authority must initiate a procedure informing other market surveillance authorities of the measures taken (prohibition or restriction on making the product available, withdrawal or recall). Article 64 lays down the Union safeguard procedure to be used if a Member State or the Commission disagrees with a measure taken at national level under the safeguard procedure set out in Article 63. Following a consultation, the Commission will adopt an implementing act deciding whether the measure is justified or not. Once adopted, all Member States must ensure that the non-compliant product is withdrawn from their market. Article 65 concerns the particular case where a case of non-compliance relates to a formal obligation (affixing the CE marking, EU declaration of conformity, etc.) Chapter XIII is a standard chapter with articles on delegated acts (Article 66) and on implementing acts (Article 67). Chapter XIV is a standard chapter on final provisions, with articles on penalties (Article 68), on carrying out an evaluation of the Regulation 8 years after adoption (Article 69), and on repeal and transition provisions (Article 70). Noteworthy is the fact that implementing measures adopted under the Ecodesign Directive should remain applicable until they are repealed by a delegated act adopted pursuant to this Regulation. Annex I sets out the product parameters to be used for setting performance and information requirements for products under this Regulation. Annex II lays down the procedure for setting such performance requirements. Annex III lists the information that can be included in the product passport and specifies the information to be included in it. Annex IV reproduces the standard conformity assessment module referred to in Article 35 (from Decision 768/2008/EC).

Annex V reproduces the standard EU declaration of conformity. Annex VI gives more detailed information about the content of delegated acts setting ecodesign requirements to be adopted pursuant to this Regulation. Annex VII lays down general criteria applicable to self-regulation measures (Article 18). Annex VIII is a standard annex including the correlation table with the Ecodesign Directive. 2022/0095 (COD) Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee, Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, Whereas: (1)The European Green Deal is Europe’s sustainable growth strategy that aims to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, competitive, climate-neutral and circular economy. It sets the ambitious objective of ensuring that the Union becomes the first climate neutral continent by 2050. It recognises the advantages of investing in the Union’s competitive sustainability by building a fairer, greener and more digital Europe. Products have a pivotal role to play in this green transition. Underlining that current production processes and consumption patterns remain too linear and dependent on a throughput of new materials extracted, traded and processed goods and finally disposed of as waste or emissions, the European Green Deal emphasises the urgent need to transition to a circular economy model and stresses the significant progress that remains to be made. It also identifies energy efficiency as a priority for the decarbonisation of the energy sector and for reaching the climate objectives in 2030 and 2050. (2)To accelerate the transition to a circular economy model, the Commission designed a future-oriented agenda in its Circular Economy Action Plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe (CEAP), with the objective of making the regulatory framework fit for a sustainable future. As set out in this plan, there is currently no comprehensive set of requirements to ensure that all products placed on the Union market become increasingly sustainable and stand the test of circularity. In particular, product design does not sufficiently promote sustainability over the whole life cycle. As a result, products are being replaced frequently, involving significant energy and resource use in order to produce and distribute new products and dispose of old ones. It is still too difficult for economic operators and citizens to make sustainable choices in relation to products given that relevant information and affordable options to do so are lacking. This leads to missed opportunities for sustainability and for value-retaining operations, limited demand for secondary materials and obstacles to the adoption of circular business models. (3)The European Industrial Strategy sets out the Union’s overarching ambition to foster a ‘twin transition’ to climate neutrality and digital leadership. It echoes the European Green Deal in pointing to the leading role that Europe’s industry must play in this, by reducing its carbon and material footprint and embedding circularity across the economy, and underlines the need to move away from traditional models, and revolutionise the way we design, make, use and dispose of products. The 2021 Update to the Industrial Strategy reinforces the main messages of the 2020 Strategy and focuses on the lessons from the COVID-19 crisis, including the need to foster resilience. (4)In the absence of legislation at Union level, diverging national approaches to improving the environmental sustainability of products have already emerged, ranging from information requirements on the duration of software compatibility of electronic devices to reporting obligations on handling unsold durable goods. This is an indication that further national efforts to achieve the aims pursued by this Regulation will likely lead to further fragmentation of the internal market. Therefore, in order to safeguard the functioning of the internal market while ensuring a high level of environmental protection, there is a need for a regulatory framework to progressively introduce ecodesign requirements for products. This Regulation will, by making the ecodesign approach initially set out in Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council applicable to the broadest possible range of products, provide such a framework.

(5)This Regulation will contribute to making products fit for a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy, reducing waste and ensuring that the performance of frontrunners in sustainability progressively becomes the norm. It should provide for the setting of new ecodesign requirements to improve product durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability, improve possibilities for refurbishment and maintenance, address the presence of hazardous chemicals in products, increase their energy and resource efficiency, reduce their expected generation of waste materials and increase recycled content in products, while ensuring their performance and safety, enabling remanufacturing and high-quality recycling and reducing carbon and environmental footprints. (6)The European Parliament, in its Resolution of 25 November 2020 ‘Towards a more sustainable single market for business and consumers’, welcomed promoting durable products which are easier to repair, re-use and recycle. In its report on the New Circular Economy Action Plan adopted on 16 February 2021, the European Parliament further endorsed the agenda presented by the Commission in the CEAP. It considered that the transition to a circular economy can provide solutions to address the current environmental challenges and the economic crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council, in its conclusions on ‘Making the Recovery Circular and Green’ adopted on 11 December 2020, also welcomed the Commission’s intention to submit legislative proposals as part of a comprehensive and integrated sustainable product policy framework that promotes climate neutrality, energy and resource efficiency and a non-toxic circular economy, protects public health and biodiversity, and empowers and protects consumers and public buyers. (7)This Regulation should contribute to achieving the Union’s climate and energy objectives. In line with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement, ratified by the Union in 2016, Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the ‘European Climate Law’ establishes a binding Union domestic reduction commitment of net greenhouse gas emissions of at least 55 % by 2030 and enshrines in legislation the target of economy-wide climate neutrality by 2050. In 2021 the Commission adopted the Fit for 55 Package to make the Union’s climate and energy policies fit for achieving these objectives. To do so, in line with the energy efficiency first principle enshrined in Directive (EU) 2018/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, energy efficiency improvements need to be significantly stepped up, to around 36% in terms of final energy consumption by 2030. Product requirements established under this Regulation should play a significant role towards this target by substantially decreasing products’ energy footprint. These energy efficiency requirements will also reduce consumer vulnerability to energy price increases. As recognised by the Paris Agreement improving the sustainability of consumption and production will also play an important role in addressing climate change. (8)This Regulation should also contribute to achieving the Union’s wider environmental objectives. The 8th Environmental Action Programme enshrines in a legal framework the Union’s objective of staying within the planetary boundaries and identifies enabling conditions to achieve priority objectives, which include the transition to a non-toxic circular economy. The European Green Deal also calls for the Union to better monitor, report, prevent and remedy air, water, soil and consumer products pollution. This means that chemicals, materials and products have to be as safe and sustainable as possible by design and during their life cycle, leading to non-toxic material cycles. In addition, both the European Green Deal and the CEAP recognise that the Union internal market provides a critical mass that is able to influence global standards on product sustainability and product design. This Regulation should therefore play a significant role towards achieving several targets established under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ‘Responsible consumption and production’, both inside and outside the Union. (9)Directive 2009/125/EC establishes a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products. It has, in combination with Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 of the European Parliament and of the Council, significantly reduced EU primary energy demand for products and it is estimated these savings will continue to increase. Implementing measures adopted under Directive 2009/125/EC have also included requirements on circularity aspects, such as durability, reparability and recyclability. At the same time, instruments such as the EU Ecolabel, introduced by Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council or the EU green public procurement criteria are broader in scope but have a reduced impact due to the limitations of voluntary approaches. (10)Directive 2009/125/EC has been generally successful in fostering the energy efficiency and some circularity aspects of energy-related products, and its approach has the potential to progressively address the sustainability of all products. To deliver on Green Deal commitments, this approach should be extended to other product groups and systematically address key aspects for increasing the environmental sustainability of products with binding requirements. By ensuring that only products that meet those requirements are placed on the Union market, this Regulation should not only improve the free movement of such products by avoiding national disparities, but also reduce the negative life cycle environmental impacts of products for which such requirements are set. (11)In order to create an effective and future-proof regulatory framework, it is necessary to allow for the setting of ecodesign requirements on all physical goods placed on the market or put into service, including components and intermediate products. This should allow the Commissions to take into account the broadest range of products possible when prioritising the establishment of ecodesign requirements and thereby maximise their effectiveness. Where needed, specific exemptions should be made when setting ecodesign requirements, for example for products with a particular purpose that could not be fulfilled when complying with ecodesgin requirements. In addition, exemptions should be made at the level of the framework for those products for which it is already clear that ecodesign requirements would not be suitable or where other frameworks provide for the setting of such requirements. This should be the case for food and feed as defined in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, medicinal products for human use as defined in Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, veterinary medicinal products as defined in Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council, living plants, animals and micro-organisms, products of human origin, and products of plants and animals relating directly to their future reproduction. (12)The proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings (recast) requires Member States to set minimum energy performance requirements for building elements that form part of the building envelope and system requirements in respect to overall energy performance, the proper installation and the appropriate dimensioning, adjustment and control of technical building systems installed in new or existing buildings. It is consistent with the objectives of this Regulation that these minimum energy performance requirements may in certain circumstances limit the installation of energy-related products which comply with this Regulation and its delegated acts, provided that such requirements do not constitute an unjustifiable market barrier. (13)In order to improve the environmental sustainability of products and to ensure the free movement of products in the internal market, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to supplement this Regulation by setting out ecodesign requirements. Those ecodesign requirements should in principle apply to specific product groups, such as washing machines or washing machines and washer dryers. In order to maximise the effectiveness of ecodesign requirements and to efficiently improve environmental sustainability of products, it should also be possible to set out one or more horizontal ecodesign requirements for a wider range of products groups, such as electronic appliances or textiles. Horizontal ecodesign requirements should be established where the technical similarities of product groups allow their environmental sustainability to be improved based on the same requirements. (14)In order to allow the Commission to set requirements as appropriate to the product groups covered, ecodesign requirements should include performance and information requirements. Those requirements should be used to improve product aspects relevant for environmental sustainability, such as energy efficiency, durability, reparability and carbon and environmental footprints. Ecodesign requirements should be transparent, objective, proportionate and in compliance with international trade rules. (15)Once a delegated act setting ecodesign requirements is adopted by the Commission for a given product group, Member States should, in order to ensure the functioning of the internal market, no longer be allowed to set national performance requirements based on product parameters covered by such performance requirements laid down in that delegated act, and no longer be allowed to set national information requirements based on product parameters covered by such information requirements laid down in that delegated act. In order to ensure the functioning of the internal market, the Commission should be empowered to establish that no ecodesign requirements in the form of performance requirements and/or in the form of information requirements are necessary in relation to a specific product parameter. (16)When establishing ecodesign requirements the Commission should take into account the nature and purpose of the products concerned as well as the characteristics of the relevant markets. For example, defence equipment has to be able to operate under specific and sometimes harsh conditions, which needs to be considered when setting ecodesign requirements. Certain information on defence equipment should not be disclosed and should be protected. Therefore, for military or sensitive equipment ecodesign requirements should take into account the security needs and the characteristics of the defence market, as defined in Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Similarly, the space industry is strategic for Europe and for its technological non-dependence. As space technologies operate in extreme conditions, any ecodesign requirements for space products should balance sustainability considerations with resilience and expected performance. Further, for medical devices as defined in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices as defined in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/746 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices, the Commission should take into account of the need to not negatively affect health and safety of patients and users. (17)To avoid duplication of efforts and regulatory burden, consistency should be ensured between this Regulation and requirements set in or pursuant to other Union legislation, especially products, chemicals and waste legislation. However, the existence of empowerments under other Union legislation to set requirements with the same or similar effects as requirements under this Regulation does not limit the empowerments included in this Regulation, unless specified in this Regulation. (18)Delegated acts including ecodesign requirements should, as was the case under Directive 2009/125/EC, undergo a dedicated impact assessment and stakeholder consultation, and should be drawn up in line with the Commission’s Better Regulation guidelines, and include an assessment of the international dimension and impacts on third countries. When doing so, the Commission should take due consideration of all aspects of the life cycle of the product and base its impact assessment on best available evidence. When preparing ecodesign requirements the Commission should use a scientific approach and also take into consideration relevant technical information in particular coming from Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, technical screening criteria adopted pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council and green public procurement criteria. (19)In order to take into account the diversity of products, the Commission should select the methods to assess the setting of the ecodesign requirements and, as appropriate, develop them further based on the nature of the product, its most relevant aspects and its impacts over its life cycle. In doing so, the Commission should take account of its experience in assessing the setting of requirements under Directive 2009/125/EC and the continuing efforts to develop and improve science-based assessment tools, such as the update of the methodology for ecodesign of energy-related products, and the Product Environmental Footprint method set out in Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279, including as regards temporary storage of carbon, as well as the development of standards by international and European standardisation organisations, including on the material efficiency of energy-related products. Building on these tools and using dedicated studies when needed, the Commission should further reinforce circularity aspects (such as durability, reparability including reparability scoring, identification of chemicals hindering re-use and recycling) in the assessment of products and in the preparation of ecodesign requirements, and should develop new methods or tools where appropriate. New approaches may also be needed for the preparation of mandatory public procurement criteria and for bans on the destruction of unsold consumer products. (20)Performance requirements should relate to a selected product parameter relevant to the targeted product aspect for which potential for improving environmental sustainability has been identified. Such requirements may include minimum or maximum levels of performance in relation to the product parameter, non-quantitative requirements that aim to improve performance in relation to the product parameter, or requirements related to a product’s functional performance to ensure that the selected performance requirements do not negatively impact the ability of the product to perform the function for which it was designed and marketed. Regarding minimum or maximum levels, they may for example take the form of a limit on energy consumption in the use phase or on the quantities of a given material incorporated in the product, a requirement for minimum quantities of recycled content, or a limit on a specific environmental impact category or on an aggregation of all relevant environmental impacts. An example of a non-quantitative requirement is the prohibition of a specific technical solution that is detrimental to product reparability. Performance requirements will be used to ensure the removal of the worst performing products from the market where this is necessary to contribute to the environmental sustainability objectives of the Regulation. (21)In order to ensure consistency, performance requirements should complement the implementation of Union legislation on waste. While requirements for placing on the market packaging as a final product are laid down under European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC, this Regulation may complement that Directive by setting product-based requirements focussing on the packaging of specific products when placed on the market. Where relevant, such complementary requirements should contribute in particular to minimising the amount of packaging used, in turn contributing to the prevention of waste generation in the Union. (22)Chemical safety is a recognised element of product sustainability. It is based on chemicals’ intrinsic hazards to health or the environment in combination with specific or generic exposure, and is addressed by chemicals legislation, such as Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2009/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. This Regulation should not enable the restriction of substances based on chemical safety, as done under other Union legislation. Similarly, this Regulation should not enable the restriction of substances for reasons related to food safety. Union law on chemicals and food, however, does not allow addressing, through restrictions on certain substances, impacts on sustainability that are unrelated to chemical safety or food safety. To overcome this limitation, this Regulation should allow, under certain conditions, for the restriction, primarily for reasons other than chemical or food safety, of substances present in products or used in their manufacturing processes which negatively affect products’ sustainability. This Regulation also should not result in the duplication or replacement of restrictions of substances covered by Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, which has as its objective the protection of human health and the environment, including the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (23)To improve environmental sustainability of products, information requirements should relate to a selected product parameter relevant to the product aspect, such as the product’s environmental footprint or its durability. They may require manufacturer to make available information on the product’s performance in relation to a selected product parameter or other information that may influence the way the product is handled by parties other than the manufacturer in order to improve performance in relation to such a parameter. Such information requirements should be set either in addition to, or in place of, performance requirements on the same product parameter as appropriate. Where a delegated act includes information requirements, it should indicate the method for making the required information available, such as its inclusion on a free-access website, product passport or product label. Information requirements are necessary to lead to the behavioural change needed to ensure that the environmental sustainability objectives of this Regulation are achieved. By providing a solid basis for purchasers and public authorities to compare products on the basis of their environmental sustainability, information requirements are expected to drive consumers and public authorities towards more sustainable choices. (24)Where delegated acts include information requirements, they may in addition determine classes of performance in relation to one or more relevant product parameters, in order to facilitate comparison between products on the basis of that parameter. Classes of performance should enable differentiation of products based on their relative sustainability and could be used by both consumers and public authorities. As such, they are intended to drive the market towards more sustainable products.

(25)Information on the presence of substances of concern in products is a key element to identify and promote products that are sustainable. The chemical composition of products determines largely their functionalities and impacts, as well as the possibilities for their re-use or for recovery once they become waste. The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability calls for minimising the presence of substances of concern in products, and ensuring the availability of information on chemical content and safe use, by introducing information requirements and tracking the presence of substances of concern throughout the life cycle of materials and products. Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council and other existing chemicals legislation such as Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 already ensure communication on hazards to health or the environment posed by certain substances of concern on their own or in a mixture. Users of substances and mixtures should also be informed about pertinent sustainability-related information not primarily related to hazards to health or the environment. Furthermore, users of products other than substances or mixtures, and managers of waste from such products, should also receive sustainability-related information, including information primarily related to chemicals’ hazards to health or the environment. Therefore, this Regulation should allow for the setting of requirements related to the tracking and communication of sustainability information, including the presence of substances of concern in products throughout their life cycle, including with a view to their decontamination and recovery when they become waste. Such a framework should aim to progressively cover all substances of concern in all products listed in working plans setting out the product groups the Commission intends to tackle. (26)The information requirements set under this Regulation should include the requirement to make available a product passport. The product passport is an important tool for making information available to actors along the entire value chain and the availability of a product passport should significantly enhance end-to-end traceability of a product throughout its value chain. Among other things, the product passport should help consumers make informed choices by improving their access to product information relevant to them, allow economic operators other value chain actors such as repairers or recyclers to access relevant information, and enable competent national authorities to perform their duties. To this end, the product passport should not replace but complement non-digital forms of transmitting information, such as information in the product manual or on a label. In addition, it should be possible for the product passport to be used for information on other sustainability aspects applicable to the relevant product group pursuant to other Union legislation. (27)To take account of the nature of the product and its market, the information to be included in the product passport should be carefully examined on a case-by-case basis when preparing product-specific rules. To optimise access to the resulting information while also protecting intellectual property rights, the product passport needs to be designed and implemented allowing differentiated access to the information included in the product passport depending on the type of information and the typology of stakeholders. Similarly, to avoid costs to companies and the public that are disproportionate to the wider benefits, the product passport should be specific to the item, batch or product model, depending on for example the complexity of the value chain, the size, nature or impacts of the products considered. (28)In order to ensure interoperability, the types of permitted data carriers should be specified. For the same reason, the data carrier and the unique product identifier should be released in accordance with internationally recognised standards. The power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to amend this Regulation by replacing or adding standards in accordance with which the data carrier and the unique identifiers may be released, in light of technical or scientific progress. This should ensure that the information contained in the product passport can be recorded and transmitted by all economic operators, as well as to guarantee the compatibility of the unique identifier with external components such as scanning devices. (29)In order to not unnecessarily delay the establishment of ecodesign requirements other than on the product passport or to ensure that product passports can be effectively implemented, the Commission should be allowed to exempt product groups from the product passport requirements in case technical specifications are not available in relation to the essential requirements for the technical design and operation of the product passport. Similarly, in order to prevent unnecessary administrative burden for economic operator, the Commission should be allowed to exempt product groups from the product passport requirements in case other Union law already includes a system for the digital provision of product information allowing actors along the value chain to access relevant product information and facilitating the verification of product compliance by competent national authorities. These exemptions should be periodically reviewed taking into account further availability of technical specifications. (30)Unique identification of products is a fundamental element to enable traceability across the supply chain. Therefore, the product passport should be linked to a unique product identifier. In addition, where appropriate, the passport should allow for the tracing of the actors and manufacturing facilities related to that product. In order to ensure interoperability, the unique operator identifiers and unique facility identifiers enabling traceability should be released in accordance with internationally recognised standards. The power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to amend this Regulation by replacing or adding standards in accordance with which unique operator identifiers and unique facility identifiers may be released, in light of technical or scientific progress. (31)Digitalised information about the product and its life cycle or, where applicable, its passport should be easily accessible by scanning a data carrier, such as a watermark or a quick response (QR) code. Where possible, the data carrier should be on the product itself to ensure the information remains accessible throughout its life cycle. However, exceptions are possible depending on the nature, size or use of the products concerned. (32)To ensure that the product passport is flexible, agile and market-driven and evolving in line with business models, markets and innovation, it should be based on a decentralised data system, set up and maintained by economic operators. However, for enforcement and monitoring purposes, it may be necessary that competent national authorities and the Commission have direct access to a record of all data carriers and unique identifiers linked to products placed on the market or put in service. (33)To ensure the effective roll-out of the product passport, technical design, data requirements and operation of the product passport should adhere to a set of essential technical requirements. Such requirements should provide a basis for the consistent deployment of the product passport across sectors. Technical specifications should be established to ensure the effective implementation of those essential requirements, either in the form of harmonised standard referenced in the Official Journal or, as a fall-back option, common specification adopted by the Commission. The technical design should ensure that the product passport carries data in a secure way, respecting privacy rules The digital product passport will be developed in an open dialogue with international partners, in order to take account of their views when developing technical specifications and to ensure that they help remove trade barriers for greener products and lower costs for sustainable investments, marketing and compliance. Technical specifications and requirements related to traceability across the value chain should, in order to allow for their effective implementation, to the extent possible be developed based on a consensual approach and on the involvement, buy-in, and effective collaboration of a diverse set of actors, including standardisation bodies, industry associations, consumer organisations, experts, NGOs and international partners, including developing economies. (34)In order to improve enforcement of ecodesign requirements, it is necessary that national authorities and the Commission have direct access to a record of all data carriers and unique identifiers linked to products placed on the market or put in service. To this end, the Commission should set up and maintain a product passport registry to store such data. Where needed to further facilitate enforcement, the Commission should, as appropriate, specify other information included in the product passport that needs to be stored in the registry. (35)Any processing of personal data pursuant to this Regulation should comply with the applicable rules on the protection of personal data. Processing of personal data by the competent national authorities within Member States should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Processing of personal data by the Commission should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council. (36)Effective enforcement in relation to products placed on the Union market, whether domestically produced or imported, is essential for achieving the aims of this Regulation. Therefore, where the Commission has set up a registry, customs authorities should have direct access to it via the EU Single Window Environment for Customs set up by Regulation (EU) …/…. The role of customs should be to ensure that the reference of a product passport is made available in the customs declaration and that this reference corresponds to a unique product identifier that is stored in the registry. This would allow the verification by customs that a product passport exists for imported products. (37)Where certain information included in the product passport is stored in the registry in addition to data carriers and unique identifiers, the Commission should be able to provide, where appropriate, that customs authorities verify the consistency between this information and the customs declaration, in order to improve the compliance of products with ecodesign requirements and taking into account the need to avoid disproportionate burden for customs authorities. (38)The information included in the product passport can allow customs authorities to enrich and facilitate risk management and enable the better targeting of controls at the border. Therefore, customs authorities should be able to retrieve and use the information included in the product passport and the related registry for carrying out their tasks in accordance with Union legislation including for risk management in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council. (39)To drive consumers towards more sustainable choices, labels should, when required by the delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation, provide information allowing for the effective comparison of products, for instance by indicating classes of performance. Specifically for consumers, physical labels can be an additional source of information at the place of sale. They can provide a quick visual basis for consumers to distinguish between products based on their performance in relation to a specific product parameter or set of product parameters. They should, where appropriate, also allow for the accessing of additional information by bearing specific references like website addresses, dynamic QR codes, links to online labels or any appropriate consumer-oriented means. The Commission should set out in the relevant delegated act the most effective way of displaying such labels, including in the case of online distance selling, taking into account the implications for customers and economic operators and the characteristics of the products concerned. The Commission may also require the label to be printed on the packaging of the product. (40)Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 setting a framework on energy labelling applies, in parallel to this Regulation, to energy-related products. This means that energy labels are the primary instrument providing the appropriate information to consumers for energy-related products and that classes of performance determined under this Regulation should, where appropriate, be incorporated in the label as supplementary information as provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369. In cases where relevant information on a product’s performance in relation to a product parameter cannot be included as supplementary information in the energy label established for the energy-related product pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1369, the Commission should assess whether a label in accordance with this Regulation is to be established, taking into account the need for consumers to be informed on the most relevant parameters for the product and the disadvantages in terms of risks of confusion for the public and of excessive administrative burden for economic operators. (41)Consumers should be protected from misleading information that could hamper their choices for more sustainable products. For this reasons it should be prohibited to place on the market products bearing a label mimicking the labels provided for in this Regulation. (42)To deliver in the most efficient way on the European Green Deal’s objectives and to address the most impactful products first, the Commission should carry out a prioritisation of products to be regulated under this Regulation and requirements that will apply to them. Based on the process followed for prioritisation under Directive 2009/125/EC, the Commission should adopt a working plan, covering at least 3 years, laying down a list of product groups for which it plans to adopt delegated acts as well as the product aspects for which it intends to adopt delegated acts of horizontal application. The Commission should base its prioritisation on a set of criteria pertaining in particular to the delegated acts’ potential contribution to the Union climate, environmental and energy objectives and their potential for improving the product aspects selected without disproportionate costs to the public and economic operators. Considering their importance for meeting the Union’s energy objectives, the working plans should include an adequate share of actions related to energy-related products. Member States and stakeholders should also be consulted through the Ecodesign Forum. Due to the complementarities between this Regulation and Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 for energy-related products, the timelines for the working plan under this Regulation and the one provided for under Article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 should be aligned. (43)In addressing construction products, this Regulation should set requirements on final products only when the obligations created by [the revised Construction Products Regulation] and its implementation are unlikely to sufficiently achieve the environmental sustainability objectives pursued by this Regulation. In addition, when formulating working plans, the Commission should take into account that, in continuation of current practice, [the revised Construction Products Regulation] will, in relation to energy-related products that are also construction products, give prevalence to sustainability requirements set under this Regulation. This should be the case for instance for heaters, boilers, heat pumps, water and space heating appliances, fans, cooling and ventilating systems and photovoltaic products (excluding building-integrated photovoltaic panels). For these products, [the revised Construction Products Regulation] may intervene in a complementary manner where needed, mainly in relation to safety aspects, also taking account of other Union legislation on products such as on gas appliances, low voltage, and machinery. (44)In order to encourage self-regulation as a valid alternative to regulatory approaches, this Regulation should, in continuation of Directive 2009/125/EC, include the possibility for industry to submit self-regulation measures. The Commission should assess the self-regulation measures proposed by industry, along with the information and evidence submitted by the signatories, including in light of the international trade commitments of the Union and the need to ensure coherence with Union law. In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adopt and update an act listing the self-regulation measures considered as valid alternatives to a delegated act setting ecodesign requirements. It is also appropriate, for instance in view of relevant market or technological developments within the product group concerned, that the Commission be able to request a revised version of the self-regulation measure whenever considered necessary. Once a self-regulation measure is listed in an implementing act, there is a legitimate expectation for economic operators that the Commission will not adopt a delegated act establishing ecodesign requirements for this specific product group. However, it is not excluded that the Commission may adopt horizontal ecodesign requirements also applying to the products covered by a recognised self-regulation measure for the product aspects not addressed by that self-regulation measure. Where the Commission considers that a self-regulation measure no longer fulfils the criteria set in this Regulation, it should remove that self-regulation from the implementing act listing the recognised self-regulation measures. Consequently, ecodesign requirements may then be established for the product groups previously addressed by the self-regulation measure, in accordance with this Regulation.

(45)Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could greatly benefit from an increase in the demand for sustainable products but could also face costs and difficulties with some of the requirements. The Member States and the Commission should, in their respective areas of responsibility, provide adequate information, ensure targeted and specialised training, and provide specific assistance and support, including financial, to SMEs active in the manufacturing of products for which ecodesign requirements are set. Those actions should, for example, cover the calculation of the product environmental footprint and the technical implementation of the product passport. Member States actions should be taken in respect of applicable State aid rules. (46)The destruction of unsold consumer products, such as textiles and footwear, by economic operators is becoming a widespread environmental problem across the Union, in particular due to the rapid growth of online sales. It amounts to a loss of valuable economic resources as goods are produced, transported and afterwards destroyed without ever being used for their intended purpose. It is therefore necessary, in the interest of environmental protection, that this Regulation establishes a framework to prevent the destruction of unsold products primarily intended for consumers pursuant to Directive (EU) 2019/771 of the European Parliament and of the Council, including products that have been returned by a consumer in view of their right of withdrawal as laid down by Directive (EU) 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. This will reduce the environmental impact of those products by reducing the generation of waste and by dis-incentivising overproduction of products. In addition, given that several Member States have introduced national legislation on the destruction of unsold consumer products thereby creating market distortions, harmonised rules on the destruction of unsold consumer products are necessary to ensure that distributors, retailers and other economic operators are subject to the same rules and incentives across Member States. (47)To dis-incentivise the destruction of unsold consumer products and to further generate data on the occurrence of this practice, this Regulation should introduce a transparency obligation for economic operators holding consumer products in the Union, requiring them to disclose information on the number of unsold consumer products discarded per year. The economic operator should indicate the product type or category, the reasons for their discarding and their delivery for subsequent waste treatment operations. While economic operators should be free to determine how to disclose that information in a manner appropriate to their business environment, it should be considered a best practice to include the required information in a publicly available non-financial statement drafted in accordance with Article 19a of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council where applicable. (48)In order to avoid the destruction of unsold consumer products, where the destruction of such products is prevalent, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to supplement this Regulation by prohibiting the destruction of such products. Given the wide range of products that may potentially be destroyed without ever being sold or used, it is necessary to establish such empowerment in this Regulation. However, the prohibition set in the delegated acts should apply to specific product groups to be determined based on an assessment by the Commission of the extent to which the destruction of such products takes place in practice, taking into account the information made available by economic operators where appropriate. To ensure that this obligation is proportionate, the Commission should consider specific exemptions under which destroying unsold consumer products may still be permitted, for instance in view of health and safety concerns. To monitor the effectiveness of this prohibition and to dis-incentivise circumvention, economic operators should be required to disclose the number of unsold consumer products destroyed and the reasons for their destruction under applicable exemptions. Finally, to avoid any undue administrative burden on SMEs, they should be exempted from the obligations to disclose their unsold discarded products and from the prohibition to discard specific products groups set in delegated acts. However, where there is reasonable evidence that SMEs may be used to circumvent those obligations, the Commission should be able to require, in those delegated acts, for some product groups, that these obligations also apply to micro, small or medium sized enterprises. (49)Economic operators should be responsible for products’ compliance with the ecodesign requirements under this Regulation, in relation to their respective roles in the supply chain, so as to ensure those products’ free movement on the internal market and to improve their sustainability. Economic operators intervening in the supply and distribution chain should take appropriate measures to ensure that they only make available on the market products that are in conformity with this Regulation and the delegated acts adopted pursuant to it. (50)The manufacturer, having detailed knowledge of the design and production process, is best placed to carry out the conformity assessment procedure. Conformity assessment should therefore remain solely the obligation of the manufacturer. (51)In order to safeguard the functioning of the internal market, it is necessary to ensure that products from third countries entering the Union market comply with this Regulation and the delegated acts adopted pursuant to it, whether imported as products, components, or intermediate products. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that appropriate conformity assessment procedures have been carried out by manufacturers with regard to those products. Provision should therefore be made for importers to ensure that the products they place on the market comply with those requirements and that the CE marking and documentation drawn up by manufacturers are available for inspection by the competent national authorities. Provision should also be made for importers to ensure, where applicable, that a product passport is available for those products. (52)When placing a product on the, every importer should indicate on the product their name, registered trade name or registered trade mark as well as their postal address and, where available, electronic means of communication through which it can be contacted. Exceptions should be provided for in cases where the size of the product does not allow for such indications. This includes cases where the importer would have to open the packaging to put the name and address on the product or where the product is too small in size to affix this information. (53)As the distributor makes a product available on the market after it has been placed there by the manufacturer or importer, it should act with due care in relation to the applicable ecodesign requirements. The distributor should also ensure that its handling of the product does not adversely affect its compliance with the requirements of this Regulation or the delegated acts adopted pursuant to it. (54)As distributors and importers are close to the marketplace and have an important role in ensuring product compliance, should be involved in market surveillance tasks carried out by the competent national authorities, and should be prepared to participate actively, providing those authorities with all necessary information relating to the product concerned. (55)As the dealer offers a product for sale, hire or hire purchase, or displays products to customers or installers, it is necessary for the dealer to ensure that its customers can effectively access the information required under this Regulation, including in the case of distance selling. In particular, this Regulation should require dealers to ensure that the product passport is accessible to their customers and that labels are clearly displayed, in line with the applicable requirements. The dealer should comply with this obligation every time the product is offered for hire. (56)To facilitate the choice of more sustainable products, labels, where required, should be displayed in a clearly visible and identifiable way. They should be identifiable as the label belonging to the product in question, without the customer having to read the brand name and model number on the label. Labels should attract the attention of the customer browsing through the products displayed. To ensure that the label is accessible to customers when considering a purchase, both the dealer and the responsible economic operator should display the label whenever advertising the product, also in cases of distance selling, including online. (57)Any importer or distributor that either places on the market a product covered by a delegated act adopted pursuant to this Regulation under the importer’s or distributor’s own name or trademark, or modifies such a product in such a way that compliance with this Regulation or with the relevant delegated act might be affected, should be considered to be the manufacturer and should assume the manufacturer’s obligations. (58)Online marketplaces play a cruci