Stephen Sidkin, partner at Fox Williams LLP, talks about the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and why furniture sits as a high priority.
The EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is already reshaping how businesses manage unsold stock. While the prohibition on destroying unsold products currently applies to certain categories of apparel, clothing accessories and footwear, furniture is firmly within the EU’s first wave of priority product groups under the ESPR Working Plan 2025–2030.
Furniture is one of the priority product groups which has been identified by the European Commission for the first phase of ESPR implementation. The Commission’s current timetable anticipates the adoption of furniture-specific ecodesign requirements in 2028. Those requirements are expected to address matters such as durability, repairability, reuse, recyclability and product information. Furniture products are also expected to become subject to Digital Product Passport requirements.
The ESPR is not confined to businesses established within the European Union – access to the EU market is what creates the compliance obligation. As such the determining factor is whether products are placed on the EU market. A UK manufacturer, importer, wholesaler, retailer or brand owner that places furniture on the EU market will therefore be required to comply with any applicable furniture requirements adopted under the ESPR.
Nor is the regime expected to be restricted to large furniture enterprises. Unlike the prohibition on destroying unsold textiles, which applies only to large undertakings and will later extend to medium-sized enterprises, furniture-specific ecodesign requirements are expected to apply from Day 1 generally to furniture products placed on the EU market. The critical question is not the size of the business but whether it manufactures, imports, distributes or sells furniture within the scope of the relevant EU delegated act.
This point is particularly important for UK businesses that sell directly to EU customers through online channels, supply EU distributors, operate through EU group companies, or otherwise make furniture available within the European Union. Once furniture-specific requirements take effect, products that do not satisfy those requirements will not be capable of being lawfully placed on the EU market.
For furniture businesses, compliance is unlikely to be limited to product design. The ESPR is intended to support longer product lifecycles and greater circularity. Product development, sourcing, manufacturing, repair, refurbishment, resale and end-of-life management are all likely to be affected.
The implications extend beyond compliance teams. Procurement, supply chain management, logistics, after-sales support and returns processes may require adjustment. Contractual arrangements with manufacturers, distributors, repair providers, refurbishment partners and recyclers should also be reviewed to ensure that responsibility for compliance, data provision and product information is clearly allocated throughout the supply chain.
The key message is straightforward. Furniture has already been identified for regulation under the first ESPR Working Plan. Any business that places furniture on the EU market should now be assessing how future ESPR requirements will affect its products, supply chains and commercial arrangements and whether its agreements with its manufacturers and suppliers need to be amended so as to ensure that it will be provided with the information enabling it to fulfil its ESPR requirements.
