The ecodesign rule, which establishes strict guidelines for sustainable products inside the European Union (EU), was formally enacted by the European Council. The rule expressly forbids the destruction of unsold footwear and textiles, with brief exceptions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), and it gives the Commission the authority to enact such prohibitions for other goods in the future.
The current ecodesign directive is replaced by this new law, which also expands its purview to include all items sold in the EU in addition to energy products. With this approval, the decision-making process comes to an end.
Ecodesign standards will be used in public procurement in order to promote the public’s purchase of environmentally friendly items. For goods sold online, it will also comply with the Digital Services Act.
With few exceptions, including automobiles and goods used in the armed forces, the law covers a broad range of products. Durability, reusability, upgradeability, reparability, and energy and resource efficiency are among the new requirements it introduces.
It also establishes guidelines for materials that obstruct circularity, recycled content, recycling, remanufacturing, and environmental footprints. The Digital Product Passport must also be included in the rule, according to a press release from the European Council.
The regulation’s significance was emphasized by Pierre-Yves Dermagne, the Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of the Economy and Employment: “With the ecodesign regulation, we create the right incentives for the industry to think circular from the very design conception of the products they plan to produce and sell in the EU.”
The legislative act will be signed by the presidents of the Council and the European Parliament when it has been approved by the Council. Following that, it will be published in the European Union’s Official Journal and go into effect 20 days later. The regulation will go into effect 24 months after that.
Prior to this, the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC set energy efficiency standards for 31 product categories, saving €120 billion (~$130.58 billion) in energy costs and lowering the covered products’ yearly energy usage by 10%. The Commission presented the new regulation on March 30, 2022, and on May 23, 2023, the Council adopted its basic approach. On December 4, 2023, the Council and the Parliament reached a provisional agreement.
