Commission opens a public consultation on the Sustainable Product Initiative

The SPI  is a key part of the Circular Economy Action plan (CEAP) and aims ‘to make products fit for a climate neutral, resource efficient and circular economy, reduce waste and ensure that the performance of frontrunners in sustainability progressively becomes the norm’.

As main action the initiative will widen the scope of the Ecodesign Directive beyond energy-related products and define complementary legislative proposals to regulate sustainability aspects of products such as durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability; the presence of hazardous chemicals; energy and resource efficiency; recycled content remanufacturing and carbon and environmental footprints. It will also strengthen information requirements and establish tools as a digital product passport to gather data the relevant sustainability aspects.

Regarding scope, the initiative considers ‘priority products’ identified in the CEAP: electronics, ICT, textiles, furniture and steel, cement and chemicals; and considers to include further product groups ‘based on their environmental impact and circularity potential’.

Since the publication of its roadmap in September 2020, CECE is actively discussing the file in preparation for the evaluation of future proposals. The publication of the SPI is expected at the end of 2021/beginning of 2022 and it will provide further clarity on the scope and manufactures’ obligations.