Secondary legislation clarifies the new rules for unsold consumer products under the European Union’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation 2024/1781/EU (ESPR). Amongst others, these rules require most companies to publish website disclosures on discarded unsold consumer goods, starting in 2026.
On 9 February 2026, the European Commission published two pieces of secondary legislation under the ESPR:
- An act detailing the mandatory public disclosures that businesses must make on the annual volume of unsold consumer products discarded.
- An act clarifying the circumstances under which businesses will be exempt from the upcoming ban on destroying unsold consumer products.
Read on for an overview of the requirements for unsold consumer products under the ESPR and the impact of this newly published secondary legislation. For a general overview of the ESPR and what it means for businesses, see our Productwise Bitesize summary.
Recap on the requirements for unsold consumer products
The ESPR introduces a new framework that empowers the European Commission to adopt far-reaching ecodesign and information requirements for product groups, including the obligation for products to carry a digital product passport. The ESPR also establishes requirements for unsold consumer products to disincentivise their destruction. These are:
- (applied since July 18, 2024) A general obligation for all economic operators to take measures which can reasonably be expected to prevent the need to destroy unsold consumer products.
- (applies to first full financial year commencing on or after July 18, 2024, with disclosure due 12 months after year-end – for most companies this will involve reporting in 2026 on their FY25) An annual transparency obligation requiring economic operators that discard unsold consumer products (or have them discarded on their behalf) to publicly disclose, on their website, information on the number and weight of unsold consumer products discarded per year. For medium-sized companies, this obligation applies from 19 July 2030.
- (applies from July 19, 2026) A ban on the destruction of certain unsold consumer products – currently footwear, apparel and clothing accessories (e.g. hats, ties, belts, scarves, etc.), as identified in Annex VII. This ban also prohibits the recycling of these unsold products. This is because the EU law concept of “destruction” covers recycling, other recovery (including energy recovery) and disposal. For medium-sized companies, this obligation applies from 19 July 2030.
Who and what will these requirements apply to?
The requirements apply to “economic operators”, which includes manufacturers, importers, distributors, dealers and fulfilment service providers.
The provisions on unsold consumer products apply to products that have been placed on the EU market. However, note that in the case of online sales by non-EU businesses, placing on the market can take place before the product arrives at EU customs.
The concept of “unsold consumer product” includes any product (excluding components and intermediate products) primarily intended for consumers that has not been sold. This includes surplus stock, excess inventory and deadstock. The ESPR FAQs clarify that it does not matter how long the products have been available for purchase. The definition also covers products returned by consumers during the 14-day statutory cooling-off period or, where applicable, any longer withdrawal period provided by the trader.
New rules on the format for disclosures
Many businesses have already been preparing for their first disclosures on discarded unsold consumer products by gathering data on quantities of unsold goods and updating their contracts to ensure they can obtain the necessary information and assurances from disposal service providers.
Currently, businesses have some flexibility in how these disclosures are presented on their websites, provided the following information is included:
- The number and weight of unsold consumer products discarded per year, differentiated by type or product category.
- The reasons for discard, including whether a derogation on the destruction ban was used.
- A percentage breakdown of discarded products sent for different end-of-life treatment activities, including, e.g., refurbishment and remanufacturing.
- The measures taken and planned to prevent the destruction of unsold consumer products (given the general obligation to take necessary measures which can reasonably be expected, these measures should be robust).
For financial years starting on or after 2 March 2027,additional requirements will apply to disclosures on unsold consumer products following the publication of Implementing Regulation 2026/2/EU on 10 February 2026. This implementing regulation establishes:
- A mandatory format for disclosures. The prescribed template will require companies to present their disclosures in a set table format, disaggregate disclosures based on product commodity codes and mark estimates if used. The template specifies the level of detail expected for disclosures on measures taken and planned to prevent the destruction of unsold consumer goods.
- Documentation requirements, including statements from waste treatment operators. Companies will need to keep the information and documentation demonstrating the delivery and reception of discarded unsold consumer products for at least five years from the time the disclosures were made. This documentation must include “statements [from waste treatment operators] on the reception and treatment of discarded unsold consumer products”.
- A clear deadline for publication of disclosures. Disclosures must be made within 12 months after the end of the financial year to which they relate.
- Risk-based enforcement procedures. Regulators will be required to take a risk-based approach to verification, considering various factors, including: “No disclosure or unusually low numbers disclosed in comparison to economic operators that operate in the same market or product segment or compared to disclosures during previous financial years”. If a noncompliance is found, they are required to alert other Member States. While third-party assurance obligations were considered in earlier drafts, these have not been included in the final text.
- Relief for CSRD reporters. To avoid double reporting, those businesses subject to sustainability reporting under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) may choose to include these disclosures (in the required format) in their CSRD reports, provided they include a link on their website with a clear reference to where in the report the information on discarded unsold consumer products can be found.
To prepare, companies should consider updating their contracts to meet these requirements and revising internal processes to provide instructions to those handling returns.
The destruction ban and exempt products
From 19 July 2026, a new ban will start to apply that prohibits the destruction of certain unsold consumer products – namely, footwear, apparel and clothing accessories (e.g. hats, ties, belts, scarves etc.), as identified in Annex VII. This ban also prohibits the recycling of these unsold products. This is because the EU law concept of “destruction” covers recycling, other recovery (including energy recovery) and disposal. For medium-sized companies, this obligation applies from 19 July 2030.
Importantly for companies, ahead of this ban, a new delegated regulation setting out derogations from this prohibition takes effect on 12 May 2026 (following its earlier adoption by the European Commission on 9 February 2026).
Under this delegated regulation, scenarios in which the destruction of in-scope consumer products will continue to be permitted include:
- Safety concerns. The product is dangerous within the meaning of the EU’s General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR).
- Product defects. The product is noncompliant for reasons other than product safety (e.g. products made with forced labour), and destruction is required by law or constitutes the appropriate and proportionate corrective action. Destruction is also permissible where the product is unfit for its intended purpose due to design or manufacturing defects rendering it nonfunctional, provided repair is not technically feasible.
- Damaged products. The product is unsuitable for consumer use due to damage, deterioration, contamination or hygiene issues, and repair and refurbishment are not technically feasible or the cost of doing so outweighs the total cost of destroying the product and the materials, manufacturing, packaging, transport, stocking, and any other administrative or logistical expenses of replacing it.
- Intellectual property restrictions. This includes situations where the product is found to infringe IP rights, a licence, or contractual IP restriction has expired and prohibits further sale or distribution, or where it is technically impossible to remove or obscure IP-protected or otherwise inappropriate labels, logos or design features.
- Donation unviable. The product was either offered for donation to at least three suitable social economic entities in the EU but not accepted or offered via the business’s website for a period of at least eight weeks with no recipient found.
To rely on a derogation, businesses must document their reasoning. For each derogation, the delegated regulation sets out specific documentation requirements, e.g. to rely on the safety-related derogation, a business would need to provide a GPSR-compliant risk assessment or chemicals test report. This documented reasoning must be provided to waste treatment operators when delivering unsold consumer products for destruction. Businesses must also keep this documentation for five years after the destruction of the unsold consumer product.
Where a derogation is relied upon, businesses must still prioritise destruction methods in accordance with the waste hierarchy – i.e. recycling of discarded products should be prioritised over other recovery, including energy recovery, and disposal operations.
Businesses in the footwear, apparel and clothing accessories industry should also consider the parallel impact of upcoming extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules for textiles following revisions to the EU’s Waste Framework Directive, which may further incentivise reuse and repair solutions. Applying from 17 April 2028, at the latest, producers will be required to pay a fee for each textile product they place on the market. However, the supply of used textile, textile-related or footwear products assessed as fit for reuse, or derived from used or waste products or their parts, will not attract EPR obligations.
