regulations

ESPR on 9 February 2026: Unsold Apparel, Accessories and Footwear

What the 9 February 2026 ESPR acts changed for unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear, and what they did not change for DPP.

3/18/2026 · 6 min read · InfoDPP

Editorial update, 18 July 2026: the statements below describe what the 9 February acts themselves did not create. Since then, Decision (EU) 2026/1736 has cited six horizontal DPP standards and Regulation (EU) 2026/1778 has established the DPP Registry’s operating framework. Those later measures do not turn the February unsold-goods acts into DPP legislation or create a general textile DPP deadline.

Why 9 February 2026 Matters

On 9 February 2026, the Commission adopted two acts with different scopes: Regulation (EU) 2026/296 on derogations from the destruction ban and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 on disclosure of discarded unsold consumer products.

These acts put specific ESPR provisions into practice, but they do not establish the complete Digital Product Passport requirements.

The practical value of this update is twofold:

it shows that the ESPR framework is moving into a more operational phase,
it also shows that destruction/disclosure rules and DPP rules are not the same thing.

What Changed on 9 February 2026

The Commission adopted:

a delegated act setting derogations related to the prohibition on destroying unsold consumer apparel, clothing accessories and footwear,
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2, setting disclosure details and format for discarded unsold consumer products under ESPR Article 24, not only apparel, accessories and footwear.

In other words, the February package is about how companies must handle and disclose information on certain unsold consumer products. It is not a final product-passport rule for the full market.

What Product Scope This Actually Covers

The destruction ban and disclosure requirements cover different products.

The initial destruction ban in ESPR Annex VII covers:

apparel,
clothing accessories,
footwear.

The ban should therefore not be described as covering all textiles.

Disclosure under Article 24 has a broader scope: discarded unsold consumer products, not only these three groups. Micro and small enterprises are exempt, while medium-sized enterprises enter the disclosure regime from 19 July 2030. Assess disclosure and the destruction ban separately.

What This Changes in Practice

For relevant companies, the February acts matter because they make parts of ESPR implementation more concrete.

In practical terms:

the prohibition on destruction for the covered unsold consumer products is moving into a real compliance phase,
disclosure obligations now have a more concrete reporting format,
internal product, inventory, and reporting teams need to separate these obligations from broader DPP planning.

Companies should prepare for these obligations separately from future DPP requirements.

What the February Acts Clarify

These acts do not yet create a full DPP model, but they do clarify several practical implementation elements:

the delegated act clarifies in which justified situations destroying unsold products may still be permissible, for example on safety grounds or due to product damage,
the implementing act introduces a standardised format for reporting data on unsold products discarded as waste; this is therefore a reporting format, not a DPP format,
that format relates to information companies must disclose about the scale of discarding unsold products, not to product passport data,
Article 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 fixes application of the disclosure format from 2 March 2027, not February 2027;
separately, from the same communication, the destruction ban for large companies starts to apply from 19 July 2026, as it is a different obligation from reporting itself,
these dates are therefore different, because one concerns the application of the destruction ban and the other concerns the application of the reporting format.

What This Does Not Change for DPP

The February 2026 acts do not by themselves create:

a final cross-sector DPP obligation,
a full product-passport data model for all sectors,
the DPP Registry or the separate public web portal,
a final identifier standard for all ESPR product groups,
a general DPP deadline for the whole textile market.

So if a company is asking, “Does 9 February 2026 mean full ESPR DPP is now fixed?” the answer is no.

However, it is important to note that confirmed DPP mandates already exist outside the ESPR framework: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 on batteries sets the nearest confirmed date, with the battery passport becoming mandatory from 18 February 2027 for categories covered by Article 77; Regulation (EU) 2026/405 on detergents introduces DPP from 23 September 2029; and the Toy Safety Regulation from 1 August 2030. These standalone obligations apply regardless of the ESPR delegated-act timeline.

Why This Is Still an Important Implementation Signal

Even though this is not a DPP act in the strict sense, it is still one of the clearest confirmed implementation steps since ESPR entered into force.

That matters because it shows:

the Commission is moving from framework law toward execution,
sector-specific operational rules are being adopted,
teams should expect more detailed delegated and implementing work over time.

So this is best treated as an important implementation signal under ESPR, not as confirmation that all DPP rules and systems are in place.

What Companies Should Do Now

If you work with covered products, the sensible next steps are:

Separate workstreams clearly: destruction/disclosure compliance should not be confused with DPP implementation planning.
Map each obligation separately: Annex VII determines the initial destruction-ban product groups; Article 24 disclosure is broader.
Review reporting readiness: check whether inventory, ERP, sustainability, and compliance teams can support the required disclosures.
Continue DPP preparation: this February package does not remove the need to prepare identifiers, product data, and traceability for later DPP obligations.
Monitor the next implementation steps: especially delegated acts, sector rules, and the broader ESPR infrastructure work.

Official Sources

Start preparing for DPP by organising the data for one product. Try OriginPass.eu to see how you can present it in a digital passport.

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