This Regulation amends Directive (EU) 2020/1828 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and repeals Directive2009/125/EC (subject to the exemptions in Article 79).
The Regulation aims to improve “the environmental sustainability of products in order to make sustainable products the norm and to reduce the overall carbon footprint and environmental footprint of products over their life cycle, and of ensuring the free movement of sustainable products within the internal market” (Article 1). The regulation, therefore, establishes a framework for setting the ecodesign requirements, including establishing a digital product passport, mandatory green public procurement requirements and a framework to prevent the destruction of unsold consumer products.
Article 1 (2) specifies the physical goods that are exempted from the application of the Regulations and this includes components and intermediate products of food as defined in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002; feed as defined in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002; medical products as defined in Directive 221/83/EC; veterinary medical products as defined in Regulation (EU) 2019/6; living plants; animals and micro-organism; products of human origin; products of plants and animals relating directly to their future reproduction; and vehicles.
Article 4, empowers the European Commission to set specific ecodesign requirements through delegated acts for products to reduce their environmental impact. These requirements will apply 18 months after they are adopted. Article 5, further specifies that such delegated acts must promote the durability, reliability, reusability, upgradability, repairability, the possibility of maintenance and refurbishment, energy use and energy efficiency of products.
Article 78 amends Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 to include that any economic operator placing the battery on the market or putting it into service shall upload a unique identifier to the digital product passport registry set up in terms of Article 13 of this Regulation.
