Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) promotes sustainability by setting eco-design requirements, enhancing product traceability, and facing enforcement challenges across the European market.
What are the key goals of the ESPR?
The European Union recently executed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) for products sold in the coalition, targeting sustainability and consumer choices, according to a researcher. The ESPR, which took impact on July 18, specifies a comprehensive framework for eco-design requirements.
The European Commission explained it as “the cornerstone of the EU Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products.” “The ESPR is part of a package of measures that are central to achieving the objectives of the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan,” it stated. “They will contribute to helping the EU reach its environmental and climate goals, doubling its circularity rate of material use and to achieving its energy efficiency targets by 2030.”
What challenges does the ESPR pose for enforcement?
Antoine Oger, research leader at the Institute for European Environmental Policy, talked about the key goals and mechanisms of the newly enforced ESPR, emphasizing its pivotal position in promoting sustainability within the EU market. The requirements contain performance criteria such as durability, reusability, repairability, recyclability, upgradability and overall environmental impacts for products sold in the EU, said the researcher.
“The ESPR strives to improve the sustainability of goods and assign consumer choices through several initiatives, including provisions on the destruction of unsold goods, incentives for sustainable product choices, a public online communication platform, green public procurement, adequate eco-label use and strengthened market surveillance for non-compliance,” he stated.
According to Oger, the DPP is an essential element of the regulation, improving the traceability, repairability and recyclability of products sold in Europe. “The DPP will maintain a product’s information requirements, delivering details on performance, traceability, technical documentation, poisonous chemicals, user manuals and promoting the repair and recycling of products,” he stressed. “It is the cornerstone of the implementation and monitoring processes of the regulation.”
How will the ESPR impact foreign suppliers?
The ESPR’s enforcement poses challenges, especially regarding market surveillance and adherence for EU and foreign suppliers. Oger pointed out that foreign suppliers will meet new obstacles when exporting products to the EU, as the latest eco-design requirements apply to all products sold within the market. “Member states will obtain support from the European Commission to ensure proper market management of incoming products and their compliance with the ESPR,” he said.
“However, customs and market surveillance authorities are already faced with a daunting task,” he stated. “The proliferation of EU autonomous measures such as the Regulation on Deforestation Free Products (EUDR), Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and now the ESPR will put extra strain on these authorities as each regulation carries its own certification/declaration process.”
To manage the challenges, the researcher recommended streamlining product declaration information in a standard DPP and scaling up the budget for customs and market management authorities to ensure proper functioning. “Where possible, product declaration information should be streamlined, for example in a common DPP, and the budget for customs and market surveillance authorities should be scaled up accordingly to ensure their proper functioning,” he stated.
