What is a delegated act and why does it determine what I must do?
A delegated act supplements the ESPR per product category
A delegated act is a legal text established by the European Commission to further develop a European regulation, without requiring a complete new legislative process with the European Parliament and Council each time. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is such a regulation that primarily sets the framework: it describes the digital product passport, the general principles on sustainability and the powers of the Commission, but the concrete requirements for a specific product category — for example textiles, furniture or electronics — are not included in it yet. Those requirements come in a separate delegated act per product category. That is where it is specified which data are mandatory, which performances (such as repairability or recycled content) must be achieved and from when that applies. As long as that delegated act for a product category does not exist, the concrete obligation for those products simply does not exist yet — the ESPR gives the Commission only the power and the frameworks to establish that obligation later.
For product categories with an established act, not beyond
This system applies to every product category that can fall under the ESPR, but the actual, enforceable requirements apply only to the product categories for which the Commission has actually established a delegated act. A manufacturer of a product for which no delegated act yet exists is therefore not required to comply with concrete ecodesign or passport requirements on the basis of the ESPR — those requirements simply do not exist yet. What is already established, however, is the process: Article 4 of the ESPR describes the power of the Commission to draw up such an act per product category, and Article 8 describes what must minimally be included in it. That distinction — framework in the regulation itself, content in the delegated act — is precisely why two manufacturers in two different product categories can face different obligations at different times, even though they both fall "under the ESPR".
The sequence follows from the work programme of Article 18
There is no fixed date on which the ESPR as a whole "takes effect" for all products at the same time. Instead, the Commission determines, through a prioritisation and planning described in Article 18 of the ESPR, which product categories are addressed first for a delegated act and which later. As long as no delegated act has been established for a product category, the product-specific requirements from that future act do not yet apply — the work programme of Article 18 does indicate the direction the Commission wants to go, but that is a plan, not an established obligation. An exact date for a specific product category cannot therefore be derived from the ESPR itself; that only follows from the delegated act once it is in place.
This is how you approach it as a manufacturer or importer
The first step is to check whether a delegated act has already been adopted for your own product category, or whether it is scheduled according to the work programme under Article 18. If that act already exists, it specifies exactly what applies: which performance levels must be achieved, which data must be included in the product passport and from which point in time. If that act does not yet exist, it is important to follow the schedule, because the product category may be added at a later date — often with prior notice. As soon as a delegated act for your own product category is published, the logical next step is to compare its content with the subjects that Article 8 of the ESPR mentions as a minimum: requirements for sustainability and repairability, requirements for information and documentation, and the specific design of the digital product passport for that category. That delegated act is then the document containing the actual, verifiable obligations — the ESPR itself remains the framework within which this takes place.
This is based on: Article 4, 8 and 18 ESPR
Article 4 of the ESPR gives the Commission the power to adopt delegated acts for specific product categories. Article 8 describes which subjects such an act must regulate, such as performance requirements, information obligations and the design of the product passport. Article 18 describes how the Commission prioritises and schedules which product categories come into play and when. Together, these articles explain why the ESPR itself sets out the process, while the concrete obligation that applies to each product category only arises once the corresponding delegated act has been adopted.
Anyone wanting to know whether their own product category is already due should best consult the text of the ESPR itself via the official source and check whether a delegated act has already been published for that category or is on the work programme. Once that is the case, that act provides the concrete answer that the ESPR itself does not yet give.
Where this is based on
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), article 4 (powers to adopt delegated acts) and article 8 (content of delegated acts)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), article 18 (prioritisation and planning)
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 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is a framework regulation. This means that the regulation itself sets out what can all be regulated for the digital product passport, but does not specify precisely what must happen for each product individually. That specification per product group is set out in a delegated act: a separate legislative document adopted by the European Commission, containing the concrete requirements for, for example, textiles, furniture or electronics. For a company that manufactures or imports products, that delegated act is therefore the document where the actual obligations are set out — not the ESPR itself.
Understanding that the ESPR grants the authority, not the requirements themselves
Article 4 of the ESPR grants the Commission the authority to adopt delegated acts per product group or product category. The ESPR thus describes the process and the limits within which this may take place, but does not itself impose ecodesign requirements on a specific product. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means in practice that reading the ESPR text alone is insufficient to know what is expected of a product. Anyone wanting to know which product group a product falls under ultimately looks up the corresponding delegated act, not just the regulation.
Checking what is set out in the delegated act for your own product group
Article 8 of the ESPR describes what a delegated act may contain: requirements on sustainability, reusability, repairability, recyclability, the information that goes into the digital product passport, and the data carrier through which that information is disclosed. This is a broad list — not every delegated act uses all of its elements. For a company, this means that the own delegated act must be read to see which of those elements have actually been specified for your own product group, and which data must precisely be included in the passport. This varies per product group and cannot be inferred from the ESPR text itself.
Keeping track of when your own product group is prioritised
Article 18 of the ESPR describes how the Commission prioritises and plans which product groups receive a delegated act first. There is therefore a sequence, and that sequence is set out in work programmes, not in the ESPR text itself. For a company, this means that it is useful to keep track of the order in which product groups are prioritised, because as long as no delegated act has been adopted for a product group, there are no concrete passport obligations for those products either.
Making a distinction between "the ESPR applies" and "a delegated act has already been adopted"
This is a distinction that is often overlooked in practice. The ESPR as a framework regulation applies broadly, but that does not mean that concrete obligations already exist for every product. A company that checks whether the digital product passport already applies to its own products, would be well advised to specifically search for the delegated act for its own product group, rather than assuming that the ESPR itself already contains the obligation.
Where things go wrong in practice
A common misconception is that the ESPR text itself already states which data must be included in the passport. The ESPR describes the framework (Article 8), but the actual list of mandatory data is set out in the delegated act of the relevant product group — these two documents are often confused with one another.
A second situation: a company assumes that because the ESPR is already in force, its own product group is also already subject to a passport obligation. Without a published delegated act for that product group, there is no concrete obligation yet, even though the framework regulation itself is already in effect.
A third situation arises in companies with products in multiple categories. For one part of the assortment, a delegated act may already apply, while for another part it does not yet — resulting in different regimes running in parallel internally without this being clearly documented. This is a significant issue with products that fall into multiple product categories simultaneously, as can be clearly seen in the example of an e-bike, which can involve multiple components simultaneously.
A fourth situation: a company interprets the prioritisation plans under Article 18 as a firm guarantee that a product category will be addressed on a fixed date, and plans accordingly. A work plan provides direction and an order of priority, but is not the same as the actual publication of the delegated act itself — differences can arise between the announcement and the final text.
A fifth situation occurs in companies that, in addition to the ESPR, are subject to other regulations, such as the Battery Regulation. Without distinguishing between those regulations, it is difficult to see which passport applies to which component — something that the overview of the difference between the battery passport and the digital product passport addresses.
What you can document
- An overview of the company's own product categories, stating for each category whether a delegated act has been published and where it can be found.
- A brief note per product category with the status: no delegated act yet, act in preparation (draft phase), or act adopted and applicable.
- A reference to the specific articles from the company's own delegated act that determine the passport content, data carrier and requirements, so that this does not need to be looked up repeatedly.
- A log recording when the prioritisation plans under Article 18 were consulted, and what changes in those plans were identified for the company's own product categories.
- An internal explanation for whoever within the company is responsible for monitoring new delegated acts, so that this task does not remain informally with one person.
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.