Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

In the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Commission proposes new rules to make goods placed on the Union market sustainable.

The Rapporteur welcomes the proposal of the Commission, but she considers that several aspects could be strengthened.

The ESPR is meant to contribute achieving the EU’s overall climate, environmental and energy goals, while supporting economic growth, job creation and social inclusion. As a result, the Rapporteur considers that in addition to setting ambitious environmental requirements, it should also encompass social aspects. Therefore, the Rapporteur extends the scope of the Regulation to also cover the social sustainability of products and due diligence aspects along the value chain. In addition, the Union’s objectives to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest and to reduce the overall material and consumption footprint should be taken into account when preparing ecodesign requirements.

The current proposal enables the Commission to determine in the working plans the products that should be prioritised for the establishment of ecodesign requirements. In the Rapporteur’s opinion however, in order to deliver in the most efficient way the European Green Deal’s objectives and to address the products with the highest negative impacts first, some product categories should already be prioritised. These product categories are iron, steel, cement, aluminium, textiles (notably garments and footwear), furniture (including mattresses), tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, energy-related products whose implementing measures need to be revised or newly defined, and ICT products. The working plan shall be publicly available and be presented to the European Parliament before its adoption. The Commission should provide a justification if it chooses not to prioritise any of the listed product groups.

The Rapporteur reinforces some of the provisions related to the information rights for the consumers and end-users. Clear and easily understandable information for consumers and other end-users is particularly necessary to steer sustainable consumption patterns and to ensure adequate measures are taken at the end of life of the product. All information relevant for a purchasing decision shall be provided to the consumers prior to the purchase of a product on the product’s packaging, in the digital product passport, on a label or on a free access website of application, as appropriate. Information that is essential to the health, safety, and rights of end-users should be provided in physical format with the product and be accessible through a data carrier included on the product.

In continuation 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 involved with the product or product group in question. The Ecodesign Forum would provide expertise to the Commission on the working plan and on the preparation of ecodesign requirements, before the Commission formally exercises its delegated powers. The Rapporteur reinforces the provisions on the Forum by making its functioning more transparent and by enabling the Eco-design Forum to propose to the Commission to prepare ecodesign requirements for a particular product group, which the Commission shall take into consideration.

Whereas self-regulation appears to be a sensible idea in theory, the experience has shown mixed results, and the Rapporteur prefers to prioritise resources for the establishment of eco-design requirements through delegated acts. Therefore, the Rapporteur has decided to delete the possibility to create new self-regulation measures but she has introduced a transitional provision according to which Directive 2009/125/EC shall continue to apply to voluntary agreements or other self-regulation measures adopted before the entry into force of this Regulation.

Finally 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. The destruction of unsold goods is a non-sense from environmental point of view, and needs to be effectively tackled. According to the Rapporteur, the provisions in the ESPR are not ambitious enough as the prohibition of the destruction of unsold goods would be subordinated to a future delegated act that will delay action. This is why she introduces a horizontal ban for textiles and electronic appliances, two categories for which there is ample existing evidence to prohibit the destruction of unsold items. In addition, the Rapporteur considers that excluding medium enterprises from the provision on unsold consumer goods is not proportionate and could create loopholes. She decides hence to exclude only the small and micro enterprises.