The Council of the European Union (EU) recently announced that final approval has been granted to the Ecodesign Requirements for Sustainable Products (ESPR), a new regulation.

This new and necessary regulation was first proposed in March of 2022 and it was created as a way to replace the EU’s Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC). The difference between this one to the previous one, is that the ESPR includes new rules around product durability, reusability, upgradability and repairability. Furthermore, the new version will be applicable to a wider variety of a larger number of product groups.

Aside from being better for the environment, one of the main goals of the ESPR is to begin to reduce the EU’s dependence on energy from countries outside of the EU and this includes Russia.

Now that this approval has been granted, the new ESPR regulation is expected to be put into force within the next twenty days after it has been made officially and widely known. Once this has occurred, the regulation will be put into full effect until twenty-four months after the regulation is put in force.