Which products of SMEs fall under the ESPR?

Almost every physical product is in principle covered by the ESPR

The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is designed as a framework regulation that applies to virtually every physical product placed on the market or put into service, with a limited list of exceptions. Article 1 of the ESPR does not define the scope by listing product groups such as "furniture" or "electronics", but by reference to the concept of product itself: a physical good. This means that a manufacturer or importer does not need to search for his sector in a list, but rather to ask whether what he manufactures or imports is a physical good that is not on the exceptions list. For the vast majority of SMEs that manufacture or import physical products, the scope is therefore broadly defined, and the specific requirements per product group are set out separately.

What is and is not covered by the regulation

The ESPR applies to physical goods placed on the market or put into service, regardless of which product group they fall into. Article 1, paragraph 2, of the ESPR explicitly excludes a number of categories from its scope: foodstuffs and animal feed, medicinal products for human and veterinary use, living plants, animals and micro-organisms, products of human origin, and products directly related to the reproduction of plants and animals. In addition, certain categories of vehicles are exempted, insofar as they are already subject to their own European type-approval rules. For those vehicles, the exemption does not automatically apply to all aspects; the demarcation is nuanced in some respects. For the vast majority of physical consumer and business products — from textiles and furniture to electronics, construction materials and chemical products — none of these exceptions apply, and those products therefore fall within the scope of the regulation. It is important to distinguish: being within the scope is different from already having concrete obligations. The ESPR itself describes in Article 1 the framework within which ecodesign requirements can be established; which requirements will concretely apply to a specific product group is worked out separately for each product group.

For product groups without their own rules, nothing concrete changes yet

From Article 1 and Article 2 of the ESPR, it follows which products are in principle within the scope, but not from which point concrete requirements will apply to a specific product group. This is regulated separately for each product group, outside these two articles. For a manufacturer or importer, this means that the answer to the question "does my product fall within it" and the question "do I already need to do anything" are two different questions: the product can be fully within the scope of the ESPR without there already being established requirements for that specific product group. For the most up-to-date position per product group, the official EUR-Lex text and the associated implementing regulations are the appropriate source, as this overview changes over time.

How to proceed with this in practice

The first step is to check whether the product is a physical good placed on or made available on the European Union market — this is the basic requirement from Article 1 and Article 2. The second step is to check whether the product falls under one of the excluded categories: food, animal feed, medicines, living organisms, products of human origin, or specific vehicle categories with their own type approval. If the product does not fall under an exemption, the third step is to determine whether specific ecodesign requirements have been established or are being prepared for that specific product group — this does not happen in Article 1 or 2 itself, but in separate legislation per product group. For a company with products in multiple product groups, it is worthwhile to go through these three steps separately for each product group, because one product of the manufacturer may already be subject to specific requirements while another product from the same manufacturer is still awaiting its own regulation.

Where that is stated: Article 1 and Article 2 of the ESPR

The scope of the ESPR is set out in Article 1, which describes the framework and scope of the regulation including the excluded categories, and in Article 2, which defines the concept of product as a physical good. Together, these two Articles determine who and what fall within the scope of the regulation, without already specifying what concrete requirements apply to a product group.

Anyone who wants to know whether their own product falls under the ESPR should best start with their own range: check for each product whether it is a physical good, whether it is not on the exclusion list in Article 1, and then inquire whether specific legislation has been announced or established for that product group. The official text on EUR-Lex is the starting point for this, because the implementation per product group changes over time.

Where this is based on

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 not a regulation governing a single product category, as the batteries regulation does. Article 1 of the ESPR describes the subject matter and scope precisely very broadly: the regulation applies in principle to "products" as defined in Article 2, and that is a broad concept — tangible goods placed on the market or put into use. This does not mean that tomorrow everything falls under a mandatory passport, but it does mean that the legal basis has been established to regulate virtually every product category in time. For a company that manufactures or imports products, the first question is therefore not "does the ESPR apply to me", but "which of my product categories will be regulated when".

Check whether your product category is mentioned in the scope

Article 1 lists a number of sectors on which the regulation initially focuses, with exceptions for, among other things, food, animal feed and medicines, which fall under other legislation. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this means in practice that an initial check is needed as to whether the product in question falls within this domain at all, and does not already fall under another sectoral regulation that takes precedence. This can be done without a lawyer, using the definitions in Article 2 as a starting point. Anyone in doubt on this point will find a detailed test on Does the digital product passport apply to my products?

Distinguish between the framework regulation and product-specific rules

The ESPR itself does not impose a passport requirement for a specific product. This happens via delegated acts that are adopted for each product category. For a company, this means that the existence of the ESPR in itself does not yet require action — the concrete requirements (which data, which data carrier, which entry date) come only with that additional legislation. What a delegated act is exactly and why it determines what must happen in practice is explained on What is a delegated act and why does it determine what I must do?

Assess multiple product categories separately

Companies with a broad range of products — think of an importer of electronics, furniture and textiles at the same time — cannot rely on a single answer. Each product category gets its own delegated act, its own timetable and its own data requirements. For a company of this size, this means an inventory per product line, not per company. Help with classifying a product in the correct category can be found on Which product category does my product fall under?, and anyone with a product that may fall into two categories at once — as is often the case with composite products — will find an explanation on My product falls under multiple product categories — what does that mean?

Follow the order of implementation rather than getting ahead of the curve

Because not all product categories become mandatory at the same time, it is useful for a company to know the order in which categories will be regulated, so that attention is not misdirected. A company that now spends time on a product category that will only be mandatory later may neglect a category that becomes mandatory sooner. This overview can be found on In what order do product categories get a mandatory passport?

Where things go wrong in practice

A common mistake is for a company to assess the ESPR as something that either applies or does not, whereas the reality is that one part of the assortment falls within the scope of Article 1 and another part does not, or only much later. A second situation is that companies assume that "small business" automatically means "exempt" — the size of an undertaking is not a criterion under Article 1 or 2, it is about the product, not the business size. A third pitfall is confusing the ESPR with other European regulations that deal with product data, such as the batteries regulation, which leaves unclear which digital product passport applies for what. A fourth situation that often occurs: a company waits until something "becomes mandatory", without realizing that the first delegated acts are already being prepared for specific product groups, meaning the preparation period has in fact already started. And a fifth: companies with composite products — for example a product with an integrated battery or electronics component — treat the product as a single whole, when different parts may fall under different regulations.

What you can document

An overview of all product groups that the company manufactures or imports, with a brief description per group of the composition and origin of components.
A note per product group on whether it falls within the scope of Article 1 of the ESPR, or under an exemption or other sectoral regulation.
A file with the definitions from Article 2 that have been applied in the assessment of a product, so that the reasoning can be traced later.
A separate assessment for products that may fall into multiple product groups, with the choice made and the justification for it.
An overview of which of the company's products may be early in the implementation sequence, and which are expected to come later.
A brief explanation of what specifically changes for an undertaking of this size, to be found on What does the ESPR change for SMEs?, as background for internal decision-making.
For companies that are uncertain whether their scale has implications for the obligations: a note at Does the product passport also apply to small businesses?

Whoever has once documented this inventory does not need to rebuild it each time — an update per product group, whenever a new delegated act appears, is sufficient to keep the overview usable.

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.