Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, known as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), entered into force on 18 July 2024. It replaces the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC and introduces the Digital Product Passport (DPP) as a core compliance tool across a wide range of product categories. If you sell physical goods into the EU market, this article explains which ESPR digital product passport products are in scope, what triggers the legal obligation, and what the realistic timelines look like based on published Commission working plans.
How the DPP Obligation Is Triggered Under ESPR
ESPR does not make the DPP mandatory for all products on 18 July 2024. The regulation works in two steps. First, the Commission must adopt a delegated act for a specific product category. Second, that delegated act must enter into force. Only at that point does the DPP become a legal requirement for products in that category.
Article 9 of ESPR establishes the Digital Product Passport as a legal requirement, and Article 4 empowers the Commission to adopt the delegated acts that set the product-specific rules. Each delegated act sets out the product-specific requirements: what data the passport must contain, who can access it, what format the carrier (such as a QR code) must take, and when manufacturers must comply. Until a delegated act for your product category is adopted and in force, there is no legal DPP obligation under ESPR for that category.
This means the question “does my product need a DPP?” has two parts. Is your product category on the Commission’s priority list? And has a delegated act for that category been adopted? As of 4 September 2026, no product-specific ESPR delegated act establishing a Digital Product Passport obligation has been adopted. The Commission opened its public consultation on the first such act, for iron and steel, on 20 May 2026; consultation closed on 12 August 2026, with Commission adoption targeted for Q4 2026. Once adopted, the applicable date will be no earlier than 18 months after entry into force, per Article 4(4) of ESPR.
Which ESPR Digital Product Passport Products Are on the Priority List?
The Commission has published working plans identifying the product categories it intends to address first. The current priority list includes:
- Textiles and apparel
- Tyres
- Furniture
- Steel and iron
- Aluminium
- Electronics and ICT equipment
- Construction products
These categories were selected because of their significant environmental footprint, their volume in EU trade, and the availability of existing data standards that can support DPP implementation. Being on this list does not mean a delegated act has been adopted. It means the Commission has signalled its intention to act on these categories within its current legislative programme.
If your product falls outside this list, that does not mean it is permanently exempt. ESPR applies broadly to physical goods placed on the EU market. The Commission can add further categories through future working plans. For now, the priority list is the most reliable indicator of where regulatory attention is focused.
One Important Exclusion: Batteries
Batteries are not governed by ESPR. They have their own dedicated regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, which sets out separate DPP requirements with its own timeline and data obligations. If you manufacture or place batteries on the EU market, your DPP obligations come from that regulation, not from ESPR. The two frameworks run in parallel and must not be confused. For a broader overview of how ESPR fits into the EU’s product sustainability agenda, see this ESPR Regulation 2024/1781 overview.
What the Realistic Timelines Look Like
Because every DPP obligation under ESPR depends on a delegated act being adopted, all timelines are estimates. The Commission’s published working plans indicate that first delegated acts are expected in 2026 to 2027. Based on those plans and the typical legislative process for delegated acts, the following estimates are in circulation, but none of these dates are confirmed:
- Textiles and apparel: DPP requirements expected approximately 2027 to 2028, pending delegated act adoption.
- Tyres: DPP requirements expected approximately 2028, pending delegated act adoption.
- Electronics and ICT: DPP requirements expected approximately 2028 to 2030, pending delegated act adoption.
Beyond iron and steel, no confirmed compliance dates exist for furniture, aluminium, or construction products as of 4 September 2026. The Commission has not published confirmed adoption dates for any of these delegated acts.
Treat these estimates as planning horizons, not deadlines. A delegated act can be delayed if technical preparatory work takes longer than expected, or if industry consultation raises issues that require additional study. It can also move faster if political priorities shift. Monitor the Commission’s ESPR working plan publications directly for updates.
What a DPP Must Contain Under ESPR
Article 4 of ESPR empowers the Commission to define the specific data requirements for each product category through delegated acts. Article 9 establishes the DPP obligation itself, and Article 10 sets out the essential requirements, including at Article 10(1)(b) that the data carrier be physically present on the product, its packaging, or on documentation accompanying the product. The regulation itself sets out the general framework: the DPP must be accessible via a data carrier (such as a QR code or RFID tag) attached to the product, its packaging, or its documentation. It must link to a data set held in a system that meets the interoperability requirements the Commission will specify.
The data a DPP must contain will vary by product category. For textiles, you would expect requirements around material composition, recycled content, and end-of-life instructions. For electronics, you would expect battery information, repairability scores, and spare parts availability. The exact fields will be defined in each delegated act. Until those acts are published, the specific data requirements for any given category remain unconfirmed.
What is confirmed is the general principle set out in ESPR: the DPP must make product information available to consumers, economic operators, and market surveillance authorities. The regulation distinguishes between information that must be publicly accessible and information that can be restricted to authorised parties such as repair operators or national authorities.
Who Bears the Legal Obligation
Under ESPR, the obligation to create and maintain the DPP falls on the manufacturer. Where a manufacturer is not established in the EU, the obligation passes to the authorised representative, or in the absence of one, to the importer. Article 9(1) provides that products can only be placed on the market or put into service if a digital product passport is available in accordance with the applicable delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4 and with Articles 10 and 11.
Distributors and retailers are not required to create the DPP, but they may not place products on the market that lack a required DPP once a delegated act is in force for that category. This means the obligation runs up the supply chain: if your supplier has not provided a compliant DPP, you cannot legally sell the product in the EU.
Market surveillance authorities in each member state will be responsible for enforcement. ESPR does not set a single EU-wide penalty regime. Penalties will be set by member states, consistent with their obligations under the regulation.
What You Should Be Doing Now
No product-specific delegated act has been adopted as of 4 September 2026, so there is no current legal obligation to have an ESPR DPP in place for any product category. That does not mean preparation should wait until the last moment.
The practical steps to take now are:
- Identify your product categories against the priority list. If you make textiles, electronics, tyres, furniture, steel, aluminium, or construction products for the EU market, you are in the first wave of affected businesses.
- Audit your existing product data. DPP requirements will demand structured, verifiable data on materials, components, suppliers, and end-of-life options. Many manufacturers find significant gaps when they first map their data against likely DPP fields.
- Map your supply chain data flows. A DPP is only as accurate as the data behind it. If your suppliers cannot provide verified material composition data, you will not be able to populate the passport correctly when the obligation arrives.
- Monitor the Commission’s delegated act process. The Commission publishes preparatory studies and consultation documents before adopting delegated acts. These documents give advance notice of the likely data requirements for each category, often 12 to 18 months before the act is formally adopted.
- Choose a DPP platform that meets the interoperability requirements ESPR will specify. The Commission intends to publish technical standards for DPP systems. A platform that cannot connect to the EU’s planned registry infrastructure will not be compliant, regardless of how much data it holds.
The Relationship Between ESPR and Other EU Product Regulations
ESPR sits alongside several other EU regulations that affect product data and sustainability reporting. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires large companies to report on product environmental impact at the company level. ESPR operates at the individual product level. The two are complementary: product-level DPP data can feed into company-level sustainability reports, but they serve different legal purposes and have different obligations attached.
The EU Taxonomy Regulation affects how financial products are classified, not physical goods directly. However, manufacturers seeking taxonomy-aligned investment may find that DPP data supports the documentation requirements their investors need.
Construction products are subject to both ESPR and the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). Where requirements overlap, the more specific regulation will generally apply. The Commission is expected to address this interaction in the relevant delegated acts, but no confirmed position has been published as of 4 September 2026.
If you want to see how Traceable maps these requirements to a practical compliance workflow, visit traceable.digital/pricing to start a free trial. The platform covers both ESPR product categories and the Battery Regulation, so you can manage obligations across your full product range in one place.
