Textiles: Secondary legislation to prevent destruction of unsold products

The European Commission has adopted two secondary legislation texts under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The secondary legislation will operationalise the prohibition of the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear.

A Delegated Regulation defines specific derogations from the ban on destroying unsold consumer products under Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, which will apply from 19 July 2026.

Destruction is permitted only in duly justified cases, such as safety risks, legal non-compliance, intellectual property issues, technical unfeasibility of reuse, significant damage, or unsuccessful donation efforts after at least eight weeks.

Economic operators must keep supporting documentation for five years and inform waste treatment operators of the applicable derogation.

In parallel, an Implementing Regulation establishes a harmonised format and detailed rules for the disclosure of information on discarded unsold consumer products.

Large enterprises – and from July 2030 also medium-sized enterprises – must report annually on the number and weight of discarded products, the reasons for discarding, the applicable derogations and the waste treatment operations used.

The Regulation introduces a standardised reporting format based on Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes and requires documentation to be kept for verification purposes.

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