Which ESPR delegated acts have been adopted as of 11 November 2026?
Just one, and it concerns neither the ESPR digital product passport nor carbon footprints: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 sets the cases in which unsold clothing and footwear may still be destroyed. No delegated act sets ecodesign requirements for a product group yet.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of 13 June 2024, published in the Official Journal on 28 June 2024 and in force since 18 July 2024, is a framework: it creates product obligations only through Commission acts. On 11 November 2026 we listed on EUR-Lex every act based on it:
Act | Subject | Dates |
|---|---|---|
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 | Derogations from the ban on destroying the unsold goods of Annex VII (dangerous, non-compliant, counterfeit or damaged products, donations refused…) and records kept for five years | Adopted 9 February 2026, published 22 April 2026, applicable since 19 July 2026 |
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 | Format for publishing the quantities of unsold goods discarded | Adopted 9 February 2026, applicable 2 March 2027 |
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 | How the digital product passport registry works | Adopted 16 July 2026, published 17 July 2026 |
Only one other draft is in the pipeline on EUR-Lex: a call for evidence of 3 November 2026 for a delegated act on repairability, planned for the second half of 2027.
What does the ESPR digital product passport mean for your carbon data?
Nothing immediate: the passport is required only for products covered by a delegated act that provides for it. But the framework is ready, and it is the channel through which product data will be required.
Three building blocks already exist:
- Possible content. Annex I lists the environmental footprint (point m) and the carbon footprint (point n) among the parameters a requirement may rest on; Annex III lists what the passport may contain, including the information the delegated act requires. The regulation refers to Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279 on the Environmental Footprint methods (PEF).
- The registry. Article 13 required the Commission to set it up by 19 July 2026. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 sets its rules, with passports held at model, batch or item level. It also covers passports required by other laws: batteries, construction products, toys, detergents.
- The lead time. Under Article 4, paragraph 4, a delegated act cannot apply earlier than 18 months after it enters into force, except in duly justified cases.
The calculation method will be set by each act. A footprint built under ISO 14067:2018 (under revision, draft at stage 20.60 on iso.org as of 11 November 2026) remains the best working basis, with no guarantee it will be accepted as it stands. Our ISO 14067 guide explains the data collection.
Which products does the ESPR working plan target next?
The working plan adopted on 16 April 2025 (COM(2025) 187) runs from 2025 to 2030, with a review in 2028. Its adoption years are indicative:
Product or requirement | Indicative adoption | Note |
|---|---|---|
Iron and steel | 2026 | Intermediate product; no act published on EUR-Lex as of 11 November 2026; will complement the EU ETS and CBAM |
Aluminium | 2027 | Intermediate product: information-only requirements are an option under study, as for steel |
Textiles (apparel), tyres | 2027 | — |
Repairability (horizontal requirement) | 2027 | Call for evidence of 3 November 2026 |
Furniture | 2028 | — |
Mattresses; recycled content and recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment | 2029 | — |
Cement (Article 18, paragraph 6) | Between 31 December 2028 and 1 January 2030 | Only if the Construction Products Regulation does not set adequate footprint requirements |
Footwear is not included: a study is due by the end of 2027.
Who is affected, and when?
Any company placing a covered product on the EU market, whether made in the EU or imported, as the working plan points out. A supplier outside the EU has no direct obligation, but its importer or brand customer will have to prove compliance and fill in the passport.
Exporters in Morocco and across Africa
- Steel and aluminium. First in line. An exporter already calculating its emissions for CBAM (see our article on the CBAM definitive period) has part of the data, not all of it: the ESPR works per product and may ask for recycled content or a footprint.
- Textiles and apparel. Requirements expected in 2027. Already today, your EU customers may no longer destroy unsold goods of chapters 61 and 62 of the Combined Nomenclature or codes 4203, 6504, 6505 and 6401 to 6405, except under a documented derogation.
- Cement, furniture, tyres. A longer timeline, but the same logic of product-level information.
What should you do now?
- By the end of 2026: map your products. Match your customs codes against the working plan and Annex VII.
- In the first half of 2027: build a footprint model per product reference. ISO 14067:2018 with a consistent life cycle assessment; see our ISO 14040 and 14044 LCA guide.
- Structure data at model or batch level. Composition, recycled content, energy per site: that is the granularity of the registry.
- Track draft acts. Steel, textiles, repairability: watch the calls for evidence and drafts the Commission publishes; EUR-Lex already shows one for repairability.
- Do not announce a deadline to your customers. Until an act is published, answer with the state of the law and the data you hold.
To review your products, contact us.