How long must I keep spare parts for electronics available?

What you must concretely do

What is expected of you

The ESPR stipulates that products can be subject to requirements via delegated acts in the areas of spare parts availability, repairability and the duration for which spare parts must remain available (Articles 5 to 7 of the ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). For electronics and ICT equipment, the specific timeframe has not yet been determined: this will be elaborated per product category in a delegated act, which has not yet been published for this sector. What is already established, however, is the structure: manufacturers are obligated to keep spare parts available and to inform repairers and users about this (Article 27 of the ESPR).

Actually keeping spare parts available

Once the delegated act for a product category has been adopted, it will be clear which spare parts must remain available and for what period. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this practically means that procurement and inventory planning must be aligned not only with the sales period of a product, but also with the period thereafter. This affects agreements with suppliers, the company's own warehouse function and possibly also the decision to stock spare parts itself or to have a supplier manage this contractually.

Making spare parts identifiable and orderable

Availability alone is not enough if a repairer or end user cannot find or order the spare part. The obligations arising from Article 27 of the ESPR also affect the way spare parts are designated: with which number, through which channel, and under what conditions they can be ordered. For a medium-sized company, this means that the customer service or after-sales department must have a fixed process to identify and process spare parts enquiries, rather than handling this ad hoc per request.

Including information on spare parts in the product passport

The product passport is the place where data on spare parts — insofar as these follow from the applicable delegated act — can be found. This requires that the party compiling the passport has timely access to current information: which spare parts exist, which ordering addresses apply, and how long delivery is assured. Companies that import themselves or sell under their own brand are well advised to determine in advance who maintains this data internally, rather than leaving this to chance. Anyone wondering whether this obligation applies to their own company or to another party in the chain can verify this via who is responsible for the product passport for electronics.

Distinction between manufacturer, importer and brand owner

Which party is precisely responsible for arranging spare parts depends on the role a company has in the supply chain. An importer bringing products from outside the EU to market may have different obligations than a manufacturer producing itself, and a company having products made under its own brand is in a different position. This distinction is relevant enough to explore separately via am I an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR, especially since the obligations regarding spare parts in Article 27 of the ESPR are linked to the manufacturer role, even when another company actually performs that role.

Where things go wrong in practice

A number of situations commonly occur in practice with companies dealing with spare parts:

• A company stops selling a product line and simultaneously terminates the spare parts contract with the supplier, without checking whether there is still an obligation to keep spare parts available.
• Spare parts are technically available at the factory, but there is no ordering process for end users or independent repairers in place, which means the spare parts are not practically "available" in the intended sense.
• An importer assumes that the foreign manufacturer is managing the spare parts inventory, while no one has contractually established this — with the result that when a customer enquiry comes in, no one feels responsible.
• When selling under own brand, spare parts demand is not included at all in agreements with the manufacturer, because attention is focused mainly on price and delivery time of the main product.
• Spare parts information is recorded, but not linked to the product passport, so the data exists in two separate places and diverges over time.

What you can document

For companies that want to prepare for obligations regarding spare parts, it is worthwhile to have a number of things in order now, even though the exact deadline for electronics has not yet been determined:

• An overview per product line of which parts are critical for repair, with the associated part number and supplier.
• Contractual agreements with suppliers about the period in which parts can be ordered, including what happens when a product is phased out.
• An established process for how spare parts requests from repairers or end-users are received and handled.
• A designation within the company of who is responsible for keeping spare parts information current in relation to the product passport.
• Agreements on liability when spare parts information in the passport is no longer correct, something that relates to the question who is liable if there is an error in the product passport.
• For companies selling products via a marketplace or under private label: a check to ensure that their own role in the chain is documented, so that when a question arises about spare parts it is clear who responds — see also I sell private label electronics what are my obligations.

These records can be made now, independently of the exact date on which the delegated act for electronics enters into force. As soon as that act is published, the existing documentation can be supplemented with the then applicable deadline and conditions, instead of having to start from scratch.