Am I an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR?
Your role follows from what you do with the product, not from your company name
Who is a manufacturer and who is an importer depends on the role a company fulfils with a specific product — not on how the company names itself or where it is registered. A manufacturer is the person who designs a product or has it produced and places it on the market under their own name or brand. An importer is the person who places a product from outside the EU on the market within the EU for the first time. One and the same company can be a manufacturer for one product — because it sells under its own brand what it has produced — and an importer for another product, because it brings finished goods from a manufacturer outside the EU into the EU market and places them on the EU market. The role is therefore determined per product, or per product line, and not once for the entire company.
For whom this applies, and which role is not described here
This definition covers the two roles described in Article 27 and Article 29 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781): manufacturer and importer. A company that sells a product under its own brand while production is outsourced to a third party generally falls under the manufacturer role, even if it does not have its own factory. A company that purchases products from a manufacturer outside the EU and places them on the market within the EU for the first time falls under the importer role, even if it subsequently resells those products under its own brand alongside the brand of the original manufacturer. What is not covered here is the role of distributor or dealer — a company that distributes a product further in the supply chain after the manufacturer or importer without being the first to place it on the EU market itself. That role also exists in the ESPR, with its own obligations, but falls outside what Article 27 and Article 29 regulate and thus outside this answer.
When this becomes relevant is not separate from the product group timeline
The question of what role a company has is not in itself linked to an entry date — that role is fixed as soon as a product is designed, produced or imported. Where the date does matter is the moment when the concrete obligations from Article 27 or Article 29 for a product group come into force. That moment differs per product group and is laid down in the delegated act that establishes the ecodesign and information requirements for that group. For many product groups, that date has not yet been set. Until a product group has such its own entry date, the obligations of Article 27 and Article 29 for those products do not yet apply, even though the ESPR as a framework regulation is already in force.
How to determine this for your products
Role determination is best done step by step, per product or product line. First: who designs the product, or has it produced, and whose name or brand is on it — that points towards manufacturer. Next: does the product come from a manufacturer outside the EU, and is your company the one placing it on the market within the EU for the first time — that points towards importer. When purchasing from the same manufacturer via an intermediary within the EU, there is usually no importer status, because the product was then already placed on the EU market earlier; that is more of a distributor position. For companies with a broad assortment, it is worthwhile to set down this classification per product group, because the role can differ between, for example, electronics that you design yourself and textiles that you purchase ready-made from outside the EU. This classification then determines which obligations apply — those of Article 27 for manufacturers or those of Article 29 for importers — and thus also who is responsible for providing the data from which the product passport is compiled.
Where this is laid down: Article 27 and Article 29 of the ESPR
The obligations of manufacturers are set out in Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, and the obligations of importers in Article 29 of the same regulation. Both articles describe not only what is expected of the party in question, but also show, through the performance of those obligations, which role applies to which type of undertaking. For the precise text and exact description of both roles, the official text of these articles is the source to refer to, especially in borderline cases such as private label products or mixed purchasing.
For practical purposes, this means that you are best advised to start with an overview of your products and determine for each product who designs or has it manufactured, and who first places it on the market in the EU. Document this classification in writing for each product group, so that it is clear which obligations — those of Article 27 or those of Article 29 — apply to which product once the product group-specific requirements take effect. In case of doubt about a borderline case, the text of Article 27 and Article 29 itself is the point of reference, and not the role stated on the invoice or in the business register.
Where this is based on
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 27 (obligations of manufacturers)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 29 (obligations of importers)
The regulation itself is on EUR-Lex. We provide references for each claim; you do not have to take our word for it.
What you must do concretely
What is expected of you
The ESPR makes a distinction between the manufacturer and the importer, and that distinction is not optional: it determines who does which part of the work around the product passport. In short, the manufacturer is who designs or has the product produced and places it on the market under its own name or brand, and the importer is who places a product from a country outside the EU on the EU market for the first time. A company can of course combine both roles, or depending on the product be a manufacturer one time and an importer another time.
If you are a manufacturer
Article 27 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) places the core of the obligations with the manufacturer. This means that the manufacturer ensures that the product complies with the ecological design requirements that apply to that product group, that the technical documentation is present, and that the product passport with the correct data is linked to the product before it is placed on the market. For a company of 10 to 100 employees, this usually amounts to a combination of engineering and administration: someone within the company must know which data on materials, repair, recyclability and origin are needed, and that data must be recorded in a structured manner and kept up to date. That is a different task than just "putting a QR code on the box" — the data behind it must be correct and complete.
If you are an importer
Article 29 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) describes what is expected of the importer. The importer does not place a product of its own design on the market, but as the first party in the EU does place a product made outside the EU. That brings with it a controlling role: checking whether the manufacturer outside the EU has its affairs in order, whether the product passport is present and correct, and whether the technical documentation is available upon request. For a company of this size, this often means that there is someone who maintains contact with the manufacturer outside the EU and who checks the supplied data before the product is resold. Anyone who wants to know more about this will find a more detailed explanation in who arranges the product passport if the manufacturer is outside the EU.
If you have both roles
Some companies design part of their own assortment and also import products from elsewhere. In that case, for the self-designed product the obligations of Article 27 apply and for the imported product those of Article 29 — per product, not per company. If this is not worked out per product line, there is a risk of missing obligations that apply only to part of the assortment.
Where things go wrong in practice
A common situation is the company that has products made by a factory in Asia and sells them under its own brand name, but incorrectly sees itself as "only a reseller". Whoever places a product on the market under its own brand is often treated as a manufacturer in practice, even if there is no own production line. This directly touches on the question which obligations apply when selling under your own brand.
A second situation: a company buys through an intermediary in the EU and therefore thinks it is not an importer. But if that intermediary itself is not the party that places the product on the EU market for the first time, the role of importer may still fall to the company itself. Uncertainty about who takes that first step in the chain is a recurring source of confusion.
A third situation is the company that sells products via a marketplace and assumes that the marketplace will handle the obligations. That is not automatic, and your own position in the chain remains decisive; more information about this can be found under what the product passport means when selling via an online marketplace.
A fourth situation arises with private label products, where a retail chain or wholesaler has a product manufactured by an external factory but sells it under its own name. Here too, the question of who bears which obligation is not always self-evident, and its elaboration can be found at who is responsible for the product passport for private label products.
A fifth situation: a company assumes that the role of manufacturer or importer is a fixed characteristic of the company, whereas in reality that role can differ per product and per purchasing relationship. A company that designs one product itself and sources another ready-made from a third country is a manufacturer for one product and an importer for the other — with different obligations per product line.
What you can document
- An overview per product group of who designs, produces and first places the product on the market in the EU, so that for each product it is clear whether the company's own role is that of manufacturer or importer.
- Agreements with the manufacturer outside the EU concerning the supply of technical documentation and the data for the product passport, including who keeps that data up to date.
- An established procedure for checking supplied data before a product is resold, with a designated person responsible within the company.
- Documentation of the purchasing relationship for private label or own brand, so that it can later be demonstrated who held which role at the time the product was placed on the market.
- An overview of the company's own position in the sales chain, including the role of any intermediaries or marketplaces, so that it is clear who takes which step.
Anyone who still has doubts about their own role after this overview will find a broader starting point at who is responsible for the product passport of products, where the different roles in the chain are set out alongside each other.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the regulations that this platform concerns. We do not know your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI on the basis of the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something incorrect? Let us know — corrections are given priority.