Revision of the Ecodesign Directive

In the future, ecodesign rules may apply to a much wider range of products in the EU 

The EU Commission is currently carrying out a public consultation about a review of the Ecodesign Directive.  The initiative aims to make products placed on the EU market more sustainable. Its goal is to widen the scope of the Ecodesign Directive beyond energy related products and made applicable to the broadest possible range of products.  It also addresses the presence of harmful chemicals in products such as: electronics & ICT equipment, textiles, furniture, steel, cement & chemical products. 

Possible measures to be taken into consideration in the new initiative are, e.g.: 

• establishing EU rules to make producers responsible for providing more circular products and intervening before products can become waste (for example providing products as a service, providing repair service/or ensuring spare parts availability);
• establishing EU rules for setting requirements on mandatory sustainability labelling and/or disclosure of information to market actors along value chains in the form of a digital product passport;
• requirements to address social aspects throughout the product lifecycle as part of sustainability principles and requirements, where appropriate and feasible;
• measures on production processes, for example to facilitate recycled content or remanufacturing and to track the use of hazardous substances in such processes;
• measures to ban the destruction of unsold durable goods

Some of these measures would be of horizontal nature, while others would target specific sectors in particular.  Comments on the EU Commission initiative can be submitted on the dedicated website until the 2 November 2020.