COMPLIANCE DEEP DIVE

DPP for Multi-Brand Retailers and Wholesalers: What You're Responsible For

Published 28.09.2026 · Reading time ~9 min · by Lior Gabriel Graetz · LG Fashion Labs

A retailer carrying fifteen different brands' products doesn't need to think about the Digital Product Passport the way any one of those brands does. Under ESPR, a business that sells other companies' products rather than making its own is neither a "manufacturer" nor an "importer" — it occupies one or both of two other legally defined roles, "distributor" and "dealer," each with its own binding obligations. Neither role requires creating a passport. Both require verifying one, and knowing exactly what to do when it's missing, inaccessible, or wrong.

This guide works through what ESPR actually requires of a multi-brand retailer or wholesaler, sourced directly from the regulation's own text — Article 2's definitions, Article 30's distributor duties, Article 31's dealer duties, and the one provision, Article 34, that can turn a retailer into a legal manufacturer overnight.

1. Are you a "distributor," a "dealer," or both?

ESPR's definitions section splits the supply chain into six roles that together make up what the Regulation calls an "economic operator": manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, distributor, dealer, and fulfilment service provider. A retailer or wholesaler carrying other brands' products is essentially never the manufacturer or importer for those specific products — but the line between "distributor" and "dealer" is exactly where its actual legal duties get decided.

ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), Article 2, points 45 and 55

"'distributor' means any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, that makes a product available on the market."

"'dealer' means a distributor or any other natural or legal person that offers products for sale, hire or hire purchase, or that displays products, to end users in the course of a commercial activity, including through distance selling; and includes any natural or legal person that puts a product into service in the course of a commercial activity."

The distinction sits precisely on the words "to end users." A wholesaler that only ever sells to other businesses — other retailers, franchise partners, brands sourcing components — is a distributor and stops there. The moment any part of that same business sells, displays or otherwise offers a product directly to a consumer, including through an online store, that part of the business is also a dealer for those specific sales, and picks up a second, additional layer of obligations on top of its distributor duties. A business can be a pure distributor for its wholesale accounts and a dealer for its own retail storefront, at the same time, for the same products.

2. What every distributor must do — even if you never sell to a consumer

Article 30 sets out the obligations that attach to the distributor role itself, regardless of whether a dealer relationship ever exists downstream. Before making a covered product available on the market, a distributor has a verification duty:

ESPR Article 30(2)

"Before making a product covered by a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4 available on the market, distributors shall verify that: (a) the product bears the CE marking [...] or the conformity marking [...] and, where relevant, is labelled or is linked to a digital product passport in accordance with that delegated act; (b) the product is accompanied by the required documents and by digital instructions in a language that can be easily understood by customers [...]; and (c) the manufacturer and the importer have complied with the requirements set out in Article 27(5) and (6) and Article 29(3)."

Read carefully, this is a checking duty, not a building duty. A distributor does not create the Digital Product Passport, does not upload its data, and is not the party responsible for the passport's accuracy at the source. What Article 30(2) requires is confirming — before the product changes hands — that the passport link or label is actually there, that the accompanying documentation and instructions exist and are understandable, and that the manufacturer and importer have each done their own part. Point (c) in particular means a distributor's compliance is partly dependent on facts about parties further up the chain, which is exactly why verification, not blind trust, is the operative word in the text.

The duty doesn't end at the point of sale. Article 30(3) requires a distributor that has reason to believe a product isn't compliant to withhold it from the market until it is. Article 30(4) requires corrective action, withdrawal or recall, and immediate notification to market surveillance authorities, if a non-compliant product has already been made available. Article 30(5) adds a duty to cooperate with a competent authority and provide requested documentation within 15 days. None of this depends on the product ever reaching an end consumer — it applies to a purely B2B wholesale relationship exactly as it applies to a shopfront sale.

3. Selling to consumers adds a second layer: dealer duties

The moment a business sells, displays, or takes orders directly from end users — a physical store, a showroom, an online shop, a marketplace listing — it becomes a dealer for those sales, and Article 31 adds obligations on top of, not instead of, the distributor duties above:

ESPR Article 31(1)–(2)

"1. Dealers shall ensure that their customers and potential customers have access to any relevant information accompanying products, as required by the delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4, including in the event of distance selling."

"2. Dealers shall ensure that the digital product passport is easily accessible for customers and potential customers, including in the event of distance selling, as set out in Article 9(2), point (e), and specified in the applicable delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4."

"Easily accessible" is the operative standard, and it applies identically whether the sale happens across a counter or across a checkout page — Article 2(56) defines "distance selling" broadly enough to cover any sale where "the potential customer cannot physically access the product," which includes standard e-commerce. Article 31(3) adds label-specific duties: displaying required labels visibly, referencing the information they carry accurately in advertising and promotional material, and not displaying any other mark or symbol likely to mislead a customer about a product's ecodesign credentials.

In practice, this means a multi-brand retailer's website and shop floor become a compliance surface in their own right. It is not enough that a supplying brand built a technically correct passport somewhere — the dealer has an independent duty to make sure a customer standing in front of the product, or looking at its listing online, can actually reach that passport.

4. The one thing that changes everything: when you become the legal "manufacturer"

Distributor and dealer duties assume the retailer or wholesaler is genuinely reselling someone else's product, under that other party's name. That assumption breaks the moment a retailer puts its own label on a product it didn't make — a common practice for private-label ranges, store-brand collections, or white-label sourcing:

ESPR Article 34

"Importers or distributors shall be considered manufacturers for the purposes of this Regulation where they: (a) place a product covered by a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4 on the market under their name or trademark; or (b) modify such a product already placed on the market in a way that affects compliance with the requirements set out in the applicable delegated acts adopted pursuant to Article 4."

Once either condition is met, the lighter distributor and dealer duties covered above stop applying to that specific product, and the full set of manufacturer obligations under Article 27 — the same obligations covered in detail in our Manufacturers & Private Label guide — apply instead. This has to be tracked product line by product line, not assumed across an entire catalogue: a retailer can be a straightforward distributor for the branded ranges it stocks, and simultaneously the legal manufacturer for its own private-label collection, at the same time, under the same roof.

5. What this means in practice

Applies to every distributor, B2B included

Verify the conformity marking and, where relevant, the DPP link exist before making a product available (Art. 30(2)(a))
Confirm accompanying documents and instructions are present and understandable (Art. 30(2)(b))
Withhold or withdraw a product you have reason to believe is non-compliant, and notify authorities (Art. 30(3)–(4))
Keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance while the product is under your control

Applies once you sell to end users

Make the DPP "easily accessible" to customers, including in distance selling (Art. 31(2))
Ensure customers can access other required accompanying information (Art. 31(1))
Display required labels visibly and reference them accurately in marketing (Art. 31(3))
Never display your own labels or marks that could mislead a customer about ecodesign credentials

The practical starting point is a role map, not a data project: for every brand or product line carried, know whether the relationship is pure wholesale, direct-to-consumer, or private-label, because each answer points to a different article of ESPR and a different scope of responsibility. A verification process — checking that what a supplying brand claims to have built actually exists, is linked correctly, and is accessible to the end customer — is a fundamentally different exercise from the data-collection work a brand has to do, and it's the one this guide is about.

DPP AUDIT

Confident every DPP you're carrying actually holds up?

A structured audit checks whether the passports your suppliers say exist are actually linked, accessible and complete — benchmarked against the same ESPR categories this guide is built from. Under NDA.

Start Your DPP Audit

Frequently asked questions

We're a wholesaler — we only ever sell to other businesses, never to consumers. Does the DPP still apply to us? +

Yes, but only as a "distributor," not a "dealer." ESPR Article 2(45) defines a distributor as anyone in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or importer, who makes a product available on the market — that includes pure B2B wholesalers. Article 30 requires you to verify, before making a covered product available, that it carries the required conformity marking and, where relevant, is linked to a Digital Product Passport, and that the manufacturer and importer have met their own obligations. You do not pick up the "dealer" duties in Article 31 — those apply only once products are sold, hired or displayed to end users — unless part of your business also sells direct to consumers.

What exactly do we have to check before we can sell a product covered by a delegated act? +

Under ESPR Article 30(2), a distributor must verify, before making the product available: (a) that it bears the required conformity marking and, where relevant, is labelled or linked to a Digital Product Passport as specified in the applicable delegated act; (b) that it is accompanied by the required documents and understandable instructions; and (c) that the manufacturer and importer have each complied with their own information and labelling duties. This is a verification duty, not a creation duty — a distributor checks that these things exist and are correct, but does not build the passport itself.

What extra duties apply once we start selling directly to consumers? +

ESPR calls this the "dealer" role, and it is additional to, not a replacement for, distributor duties. Article 31(2) requires dealers to ensure the Digital Product Passport is "easily accessible for customers and potential customers, including in the event of distance selling." Article 31(1) adds a duty to ensure customers have access to other required accompanying information, and Article 31(3) requires displaying and correctly referencing any required labels, without adding misleading marks of your own. These apply to any part of a business that sells, displays or takes orders from end users — including an online store — even if the same company also does pure wholesale business elsewhere.

What happens if a supplier's product turns out not to be compliant after we've already listed it for sale? +

ESPR Article 30(3) and (4) require a distributor that has reason to believe a product is not compliant to stop making it available until it is brought into conformity, and — if a non-compliant product has already been made available — to ensure corrective action, withdrawal or recall as appropriate, and to inform the relevant market surveillance authorities immediately. Article 30(5) also requires cooperating with a competent authority's corrective action and providing requested documentation within 15 days. These duties sit with the distributor independently of whatever the manufacturer or importer does.

If we put our own store's label on a product we didn't make, are we still just a "distributor"? +

No — at that point ESPR Article 34 treats you as the legal manufacturer for that product. Article 34 states that an importer or distributor "shall be considered manufacturers for the purposes of this Regulation" where they place a covered product on the market under their own name or trademark, or modify a product already on the market in a way that affects its compliance. That shifts the full set of manufacturer obligations under Article 27 onto the retailer for that specific product — the same test already covered for factories and brands in our Manufacturers & Private Label guide applies here too.

Do these obligations apply today, or only once the textile delegated act exists? +

The distributor and dealer obligations in ESPR Articles 30 and 31 are framework-level provisions that apply automatically to any product "covered by a delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 4" — they do not need their own separate delegated act. For fashion, that means they take effect the moment the textile delegated act itself applies, on the same timeline as every other textile DPP requirement, currently targeted for 2029 at the earliest. See our DPP Master Timeline for the current status of that date.

Sources

ESPR — full textRegulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products. Article 2 (definitions: point 45 distributor, point 46 economic operator, point 55 dealer, point 56 distance selling), Article 30 (obligations of distributors), Article 31 (obligations of dealers), Article 33 (obligations of fulfilment service providers), Article 34 (cases in which obligations of manufacturers apply to importers and distributors). CELEX 32024R1781 ↗

All sources were accessed and verified directly on EUR-Lex on 28.09.2026, and re-verified a second time before publication. This is general information, not legal advice; retailers and wholesalers should confirm how these roles apply to their specific business with qualified counsel.