When will the product passport become mandatory for electronics?

What you must concretely do

What is expected of you

The question "when will it happen" has no fixed answer at this moment, but that does not mean there is nothing to say. The ESPR itself (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is already in force, but the regulation operates with a tiered system: the framework law is in place, and per product group the obligation only becomes concrete through a separate regulation. For electronic and ICT equipment, that regulation does not yet exist. What is already fixed, however, is the manner in which the European Commission arrives at that regulation, and that is where a company can already benefit.

The Commission establishes a work plan and a prioritisation

Article 18 of the ESPR requires the Commission to work with a prioritisation: not all product groups are tackled simultaneously, and it is determined which groups are first in line. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this mainly means that their own product group is somewhere in that order, but that the exact position in that order is something you must follow, not something you can deduce yourself from the regulation. In practice: whoever imports or manufactures electronic or ICT equipment can already check under which sub-category their own product falls, because which electronics products fall under the ESPR is a question that is separate from the date and can already be answered now.

The actual obligation comes through a delegated act

Article 4 and Article 8 of the ESPR regulate that the Commission has the power to establish a delegated act per product group, and that this act determines the content: which requirements apply, which data must be in the passport, and from which moment. For a company, this means that the obligation does not arise at the moment the ESPR itself comes into force, but at the moment the delegated act for their own product group is published and the date mentioned therein is reached. Whoever does not know what exactly such an act is and why it carries such weight will find the explanation in what a delegated act is and why it determines what you must do.

The date differs per sub-category

Because each product group gets its own delegated act, each product group also gets its own timeline. For a manufacturer of white goods, that may be a different date than for an importer of smaller ICT equipment. This difference is not due to arbitrariness, but to the way the ESPR is structured: per sub-category a separate look is taken at what is feasible and useful. That is also the reason why different rules apply per type of equipment — and thus also a different implementation date.

Where things go wrong in practice

A company assumes that the ESPR itself is already the obligation. The regulation is the framework, not the requirements. Without a delegated act for your own product group, there is still no concrete obligation to provide a passport, even though the ESPR is already published and in force.

A company waits to prepare until the date is known. Because delegated acts only contain an implementation date after publication, there is a risk that a company only begins collecting product data once time is already tight. The data that will later need to be in the passport are often the same data that already exist somewhere in the organisation now, scattered across procurement, engineering and compliance.

A company confuses the date for their own product group with that of another. Because batteries, packaging and other product groups within the broader European legislation each have their own timeline and regulation, confusion arises when news reports about "the product passport" do not indicate which category is concerned. For devices with a built-in battery, this is particularly relevant, because a device with a battery in it may have to deal with two passports, each with its own regulation and its own timeline.

A company thinks that small size means postponement or exemption. The ESPR timeline depends on the product group, not on the company size. Whether and how smaller companies are treated differently is a different question than when the obligation takes effect; see whether the digital product passport also applies to small businesses.

A company ignores the announcement phase of a delegated act. Before a measure is finalized, it goes through a preparation phase with consultations and a draft text. Companies that follow this phase often see the date and requirements earlier than companies that only respond to the final publication.

What you can document

• An overview of your own product groups and the subcategory under which each product is likely to fall according to the ESPR system, including the source on which that assessment is based.
• A list of product data that is already available within the organization (materials, origin, repair data, energy consumption), so that when the delegated act is published, you do not have to start from scratch. See also which data will appear in the product passport for electronics on this page.
• An internal agreement on who periodically monitors the European work plan and the publication of delegated acts, and how that information is shared internally.
• A note on which departments (procurement, product development, legal) need to be involved as soon as the date for your own product group becomes known.
• A file containing the sources consulted in determining applicability, so that a later review — internal or external — can refer back to what was known at that time.

As soon as the delegated act for a subcategory is published, the date on this platform will be updated. Until then, preparation for your own data and processes remains the only part that a company can already document itself.