my supplier refuses to adjust the terms of purchase for the passport

Refusal does not change the obligation

A supplier who refuses to adapt the purchase terms does not change by doing so the obligation that rests on the manufacturer or importer to collect and provide the data for the product passport. The ESPR places responsibility for the passport with the party placing the product on the market, and that responsibility does not depend on a supplier's willingness to modify a contract. That makes the refusal inconvenient and sometimes costly, but it does not make the obligation less binding. Article 38 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) specifically states that actors in the supply chain — including suppliers — must provide data and documentation needed to comply with the regulation when that is required for a specific product.

Who this applies to, and who it does not

This is particularly relevant for manufacturers and importers who purchase components, materials or finished products from a party that is not itself responsible for the passport but does possess the data needed for it. Think of an importer buying appliances or ICT equipment from a factory outside the EU, or a manufacturer sourcing components from a supplier. In those cases, the supplier itself is not the party that draws up or publishes the passport — that remains the responsibility of the manufacturer or importer, as described in Article 27 and Article 29 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) — but the supplier is the party that holds the underlying data. This is therefore not about whether the supplier itself must create a passport; that is a different situation, which arises earlier in the case of multiple suppliers for the same component or when data coming in through a subcontractor. It concerns specifically the situation in which the supplier refuses to establish or modify contractual arrangements regarding data provision.

What is already fixed, and what is not

A fixed date on which these obligations will concretely take effect for electronics and ICT equipment is not yet set. The ESPR operates according to a work plan in which delegated acts are established per product category, and for electronics and ICT this is expected from 2027 onwards. What is fixed is the framework itself: Article 38 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) already establishes the basis that actors in the supply chain must be able to provide data once that is determined for a product group. Until a delegated act for a specific category is published, there is no concrete supply obligation that can be imposed on a supplier — but preparation for it, such as establishing data provision in a contract, can start earlier. More about how this work plan is structured can be found under what a delegated act is and under when the passport for electronics becomes mandatory.

How this is tackled in practice

First, it is useful to ascertain why the supplier is refusing: is it about lack of clarity on what exactly is being requested, concerns about confidential information, or unwillingness to commit contractually to something that is not yet legally mandatory? That reason determines the next steps. If lack of clarity is the cause, it helps to first clarify precisely which data is needed — that overview can be found under the data requested from an electronics supplier. Subsequently, it is customary to treat the requested supply not as a one-off commitment, but as a fixed part of the purchase contract, with a description of which data, in what form and at what time are provided; how this is structured contractually is described under agreements on passport data in the purchase contract. If the supplier refuses despite a concrete and limited request, the next step is to determine whether the data can be obtained through another route — via another supplier for the same component, via technical documentation that already exists, or via measurements and assessments carried out by the manufacturer or importer themselves. If the supplier continues to refuse entirely while no alternative exists, that is a situation that is handled separately at what to do if a supplier does not provide the data. When importing from outside the EU, there is an additional layer here, because the importer under Article 29 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) has its own responsibility that does not disappear when a factory outside the EU does not cooperate; this is explained in more detail at what the product passport means when importing from outside the EU.

The legal basis: Articles 27, 29 and 38 ESPR

Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) sets out the obligations of manufacturers, Article 29 does so for importers, and both articles form the basis from which the request for data from a supplier arises. Article 38 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is the article that specifically addresses the obligations of actors in the supply chain, and it provides the legal basis for demanding data and documentation from a supplier when this has been determined for the relevant product category. None of these articles prescribe how a contract must be amended or what happens in the event of refusal — that is a matter of contract law and of the commercial relationship between parties, not of the ESPR itself.

Those dealing with this are best advised to start by clarifying the precise data request and recording it in the procurement contract, so that any refusal becomes concrete and demonstrable rather than a vague disagreement.