Lawyer Giuseppe Croari – Lawyer Cristina Atanasi Brilli
The ban on the destruction of unsold textile products set forth in Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the so-called Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), comes into force on July 19, 2026. This provision, part of a regulation aimed at making sustainable products the norm, concretely means that throwing away, incinerating, or landfilling clothing, accessories, and footwear that never reached the end consumer will no longer be a logistical or commercial choice, but a violation of the law.
The scope of the ban is defined in Annex VII of the Regulation, which lists the affected products by customs code: leather clothing and accessories (CN 4203), knitted or crocheted garments (CN 61), non-knitted or crocheted garments (CN 62), textile headgear (CN 6504 and 6505), and all footwear (CN 6401 to 6405). For now, the rest of the wardrobe and accessories are excluded, although the Commission may extend the list.
Who has to adapt immediately and who has more time
The Regulation will proceed in phases. From July 19, 2026, the ban applies only to large companies. Medium-sized companies (i.e., those with fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of less than €50 million) will have four more years: their obligation will begin on July 19, 2030. However, micro and small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees and a turnover of less than €10 million) are currently exempt from this ban.
However, beware of an often-overlooked detail: Article 25, paragraph 2, of the Regulation prohibits any operator – even those exempted – from destroying unsold products entrusted to them “for the purpose of circumventing the ban.” This clause prevents a company from offloading unsold products to a subcontractor or external warehouse hoping they will handle them. Responsibility, in fact, extends up the supply chain, and if sufficient evidence of circumventing practices by micro or small businesses is gathered, the ban could extend to them as well.
What is meant by “destruction”
The definition is broad and includes the concept of destruction as “the intentional damage or disposal of the product as waste,” with the sole exclusion of delivery for the purpose of preparation for reuse, reconditioning, or remanufacturing. This means that even sending unsold products for recycling, energy recovery, or landfill could constitute a violation of the ban, unless a valid exemption applies (which also includes the possibility of donation, as indicated below).
Furthermore, the sanctions, which are defined in detail by each Member State, will include both financial penalties and temporary exclusion from public procurement.
Exceptions exist, but should be used with caution
With Delegated Regulation 2026/296, the European Commission identified, pursuant to Article 25, paragraph 5, of the ESPR Regulation, a dozen situations in which unsold products can be destroyed without incurring penalties. These include, for example, dangerous products, product unsuitability for their intended purpose, including due to non-repairable design or manufacturing defects, proven infringement of intellectual property rights (such as counterfeit goods or expired licenses or termination of contractual agreements), or, alternatively, when the product was offered as a donation, following the procedure established by the Delegated Regulation, and was not accepted after at least eight weeks.
However, the actual occurrence of these circumstances must be demonstrated, and the relevant documentation must be kept for a period of five years from the destruction of an unsold product, available to the competent authorities.
The other obligation: public transparency
Furthermore, it should be remembered that the public reporting requirement set forth in Article 24 applies from the first financial year following the entry into force of the ESPR Regulation. Companies, subject to the limitations indicated above, must publish annually on their websites, on an easily accessible page, a series of information regarding, for example, the number of items and how many kilograms they have destroyed, the reasons for the destruction, and the measures taken to prevent destruction.
In this regard, the European Commission Implementing Regulation 2026/2 has established in detail the operational procedures for the disclosure of this information, also providing for a specific standardized format (Annex 1), applicable from 2 March 2027.
The general principle
Article 23 of the ESPR Regulation, however, contains a fundamental general provision: economic operators must adopt “the necessary measures that can reasonably be expected to avoid the need to destroy unsold consumer products.” This is not simply a call for sustainability, but rather a prevention obligation that, during inspections, will require companies to demonstrate that they have done everything possible before reaching the point of having to destroy.
What was previously voluntary is now, in effect, becoming a mandatory step in operational due diligence, such as demand-driven production, re-commerce channels, and structured donation platforms. In this sense, the ESPR Regulation doesn’t simply prohibit a practice, but redesigns a system, shifting the boundary between commercial choice and legal risk.
