Why are there different rules for different types of equipment?

What you must concretely do

When someone first reads about the Digital Product Passport, they often expect one set of rules that applies to "electronics". That is not how the ESPR is structured. The regulation itself does not establish concrete requirements for washing machines, laptops or smartphones — those requirements come per product group separately, via a delegated act.

The reason for this is set out in Article 18 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781): the European Commission establishes a working programme and prioritises product groups on the basis of criteria such as environmental impact, sales volume and improvement potential. A product group with high environmental impact or a large market volume comes earlier in line than a product group for which this is less significant. Article 4 and Article 8 of the ESPR then provide that the Commission, through delegated acts, establishes for each product group which data, requirements and deadlines are to apply. This is deliberately a phased process: not all devices at once, but step by step, product group by product group.

What is expected of you

To determine which sub-category a product falls under

For a company with 10 to 100 employees operating multiple product lines — for example, both large appliances and small kitchen appliances — this means that not automatically the same rules apply to each product. Each product line may fall under its own delegated act, with its own timeline. In practical terms, this means that a classification by product group is necessary to know which regulation becomes relevant when, rather than working from the assumption that "electronics" is one block. On this page there is an overview of which product groups in the electronics sector fall under the ESPR.

Following the working programme and the planning per product group

Because the Commission prioritises according to Article 18, delegated acts do not appear simultaneously for all product groups. For a company, this means that the planning of its own product group must be followed, regardless of what has already been published for another product group. A supplier of displays may face a different entry date than a supplier of large appliances, even though both operate under the same ESPR. When the passport becomes mandatory for a specific category can be found as soon as the corresponding act is published — see also this explanation about the mandatory entry date.

Be prepared for different substantive requirements per product group

Article 8 of the ESPR stipulates that each delegated act contains specific requirements of its own: on sustainability, repairability, recyclability or information obligations, tailored to the type of product. For a company, this means that the content of the product passport for one product group can differ from that for another, even within the same business operation. A manufacturer of both washing machines and small ICT peripherals may thus be dealing with two different datasets. Which data are specifically expected therefore varies per category — a general overview of this is on the page about which data are included in the product passport.

Taking into account differences despite a common framework

The delegated acts are drawn up within the framework that the ESPR itself outlines, but the implementation varies. For a company, this means that knowledge about the product passport in general terms — what it is and why it exists — does not replace what a specific act will determine for the company's own product group. A general introduction to the subject is on this page about what a digital product passport entails, but the concrete obligation follows only from the act applicable to the company's own product group.

Where things go wrong in practice

A company assumes that because a delegated act has already been published for one product group, the same requirements automatically apply to another product group it also operates. This turns out not to work that way: each product group has its own act, with its own content and its own date.

Another recurring pattern: a company reads that "electronics" falls under the EESPR and assumes there is therefore already an obligation, while for its own specific product group the delegated act has not yet been established. The distinction between "the EESPR applies as framework legislation" and "there is already a concrete obligation for my product group" is then overlooked.

Companies with a product portfolio spanning multiple subcategories — for example both large and small domestic appliances — sometimes plan a single internal approach for "the passport", while multiple approaches may later be needed because the content and planning differ per subcategory.

It is also sometimes assumed that a product containing a battery falls under the same regulation as the appliance itself, while batteries may have their own regulatory pathway, separate from the product group classification under the EESPR — see the explanation about appliances containing a battery.

Finally: companies sometimes wait passively until "the passport becomes mandatory" without monitoring which product group comes first according to the prioritisation in Article 18. As a result, their own subcategory comes into view later than desirable, while the publication of the act for that group was already known earlier.

What you can document

• An overview of your own product groups or product lines, with the question of whether and when a delegated act is expected for each group.
• A log recording which delegated acts have already been published for the product groups the company operates, and which still appear in the work programme of Article 18.
• An internal assignment of responsibility: who monitors the publication of delegated acts per product group, and who translates that into an action point towards procurement, product development or compliance.
• Documentation on the classification of products into subcategories, including the reasoning behind it, so that in case of doubt about the applicable regulation, a recorded rationale can be referred to.
• A standing check for new product introductions: under which subcategory does the new product fall, and has a delegated act already been published or announced for it.