Ecodesign Regulation: EU gives final approval to durable and recyclable goods

It is one of the regulations destined to change the business model (also) of companies in the fashion industry. Which, in Italy, has a turnover of 102 billion euros in 2023. With a series of concrete effects that, starting from the fact that every product will have to be designed in a circular key, will have a spin-off on the entire life cycle. For example: unsold garments and footwear can no longer be destroyed.

The Ecodesign Regulation (Espr), at the end of a relatively 'straightforward' legislative process compared to other regulations in the Green Deal package, was approved yesterday by the Agriculture Council, following the OK obtained by the Parliament on 23 April. In the Council the Espr gathered 26 votes in favour, with only one abstention: that of Italy.

Our country, already in the months between March 2022 - date of the Commission's proposal in the context of the new textile strategy - and the text approved by the trialogue of the European institutions in December 2023, also through business associations such as Sistema moda italia (member of Euratex) had worked to mitigate some aspects of the regulations for medium, small and micro enterprises. Succeeding in the intent: the ban on the destruction of unsold goods, for example, will be applied to medium-sized companies at a later date and does not concern small and micro. "The regulation has been built over the last few years above all with the companies," explains Alessandra Moretti, rapporteur of the measure, "It takes into account their size and strength to adapt to the new targets. Our companies have participated in the decision-making processes and will continue to do so. With abstention, Italy continues to position itself in a corner compared to the most advanced countries'.

The Ecodesign Regulation amends the Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC) and introduces a series of constraints that will apply from 2026, with a horizon to 2030. The aim is, on the one hand, to broaden the sphere of products (and sectors) to which the rules will apply - almost all of them, excluding, for example, cars - giving priority to high-impact products such as textiles; and, on the other hand, to affect the way we produce and consume in the European Union. Among the principles on which the regulation is based, in fact, is that of the durability and recyclability of garments: manufacturers will be obliged to equip products with a digital passport (Dpp) that will have to contain a series of information both on the materials, on the production itself, but also on the maintenance of the object and the possibility of repairing it.

After the entry into force of the regulation - which will have to be signed by the co-legislators (a formal step) probably in July in Strasbourg, and then published in the Official Journal - the Commission will work on a series of delegated acts that will lay down the rules sector by sector, and companies will then have 18 months to comply.