CIRCULARITY GUIDE
The EU Ban on Destroying Unsold Clothing and Footwear: What Applies Since 19 July 2026
Since 19 July 2026, Article 25(1) of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) has prohibited the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear. Micro and small enterprises are not covered and medium-sized enterprises follow on 19 July 2030, so for now the ban binds large enterprises. Two Commission acts of 9 February 2026 complete it: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 sets out the ten circumstances in which destruction is still allowed, and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 sets a common disclosure format, applicable from 2 March 2027.
This guide covers the products and companies in scope, what counts as "destruction", the derogations and the evidence each needs, the wider disclosure duty and how compliance is checked. The European Environment Agency estimates that 4–9% of all textile products put on the market in Europe are destroyed before use. The ban is separate from the Digital Product Passport and needs no product-specific delegated act.
19 Jul 2026
The date from which ESPR Article 25(1) prohibits destroying the apparel, clothing accessories and footwear listed in Annex VII. Medium-sized enterprises follow on 19 July 2030; micro and small enterprises are not covered.
10 derogations
Article 2 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 lists ten circumstances, points (a) to (j), in which destruction is still allowed, each tied to documentation to be kept for five years (Article 3).
2 Mar 2027
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 applies from this date. Its common disclosure format covers each financial year from the first full financial year after that date; disclosure is due within 12 months of the year's end.
1. What the ban covers
Annex VII to ESPR, headed "Consumer products of which the destruction by economic operators is prohibited", lists the products by Combined Nomenclature (CN) code, in the version in force on 28 June 2024:
| Group | CN code | Description (abridged from Annex VII) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Apparel and clothing accessories | 4203 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, of leather or composition leather |
| 61 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted | |
| 62 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted | |
| 6504 | Hats and other headgear, plaited or made by assembling strips of any material | |
| 6505 | Hats and other headgear, knitted or crocheted, or made up from lace, felt or other textile fabric, in the piece; hairnets | |
| 2. Footwear | 6401 to 6405 | Footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics (6401 waterproof, 6402 other); with uppers of leather (6403); with uppers of textile materials (6404); other footwear (6405) |
Not on the list: heading 4202 (handbags, wallets, travelling bags, rucksacks and similar containers), heading 4303 (articles of furskin) and the home textiles of Chapter 63, such as blankets, bed linen and curtains. The ban does not reach them, but they still count for the disclosure duty (section 4). Under ESPR recital 59, Member States may introduce or maintain national measures on the destruction of unsold consumer products outside the EU prohibition, provided those measures are in line with Union law.
Three definitions in ESPR Article 2 set the boundaries. An "unsold consumer product" is any consumer product not sold, "including surplus stock, excess inventory and deadstock", and products returned by a consumer under the right of withdrawal of Directive 2011/83/EU or during a longer withdrawal period provided by the trader (point 37). A "consumer product" is a product primarily intended for consumers, excluding components and intermediate products (point 36). "Destruction" means "the intentional damaging or discarding of a product as waste", except discarding solely to deliver the product for preparing for reuse, including refurbishment or remanufacturing (point 34). Recital 55 spells out the consequence: destruction covers "the last three activities on the waste hierarchy, namely recycling, other recovery and disposal". Recycling unsold garments is destruction; preparing them for reuse is not.
The Commission's ESPR FAQ of 25 September 2024, which is guidance rather than legislation, adds that free samples and testers are not unsold consumer products (question 127) and that the provisions apply only to products placed on the EU market (question 126).
2. Who it applies to, and from when
Annex VII refers to destruction "by economic operators": under ESPR Article 2, point 46, the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer, the distributor, the dealer and the fulfilment service provider. Brands, retailers and fulfilment service providers can all fall within it; what decides is size. ESPR takes its size categories from Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC: a microenterprise employs fewer than 10 persons, with turnover and/or balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million; a small enterprise fewer than 50 persons and EUR 10 million; and an SME as a whole fewer than 250 persons, with turnover of no more than EUR 50 million and/or balance sheet total of no more than EUR 43 million. The Recommendation's Annex calculates headcount and financial figures including the data of partner and linked enterprises (Articles 3 to 6), so a brand inside a larger group should check the group's figures, not only its own; see our SME thresholds comparison.
| ESPR obligation | Large enterprises | Medium-sized enterprises | Micro and small enterprises |
|---|---|---|---|
| Take necessary measures which can reasonably be expected to prevent the need to destroy unsold consumer products (Article 23) | Applies | Applies | Applies |
| Annual disclosure of discarded unsold consumer products (Article 24(1)) | From the first full financial year during which ESPR is in force | From 19 July 2030 | Does not apply |
| Ban on destroying Annex VII products (Article 25(1)) | From 19 July 2026 | From 19 July 2030 | Does not apply |
| No destruction of unsold consumer products supplied to them to circumvent the ban (Article 25(2)) | — (subject to the ban itself) | Applies while not subject to the ban | Applies |
Two points follow. First, the disclosure duty already runs for large enterprises: ESPR entered into force on 18 July 2024, and the first disclosure covers products discarded "during the first full financial year during which this Regulation is in force" (Article 24(1)). The Commission's FAQ (question 128) reads this as the first financial year starting after entry into force, disclosed in the following financial year; on that reading, a company whose financial year is the calendar year reports its 2025 discards in 2026. Second, the exemption has a limit: operators not subject to the ban must not destroy unsold consumer products supplied to them "with the purpose of circumventing that prohibition" (Article 25(2)). Article 25(5) also allows the Commission, where relevant, to extend the ban or the disclosure duty to micro and small enterprises by delegated act where there is sufficient evidence that they could be used for circumvention; Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 does not do so.
3. The ten situations in which destruction is still allowed
Article 25(5) ESPR named seven grounds for derogations, from health, hygiene and safety to intellectual property and, last, environmental impact. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296, published on 22 April 2026 and applicable from 19 July 2026, turns the first six into ten circumstances in which Annex VII products may be destroyed, "provided that the documentation referred to in Article 3 can be presented":
| Point | When destruction is allowed (Article 2) | Documentation to keep (Article 3) |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | The product is a dangerous product within the meaning of the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988. | A description of the health or safety concern, including a safety assessment under that Regulation, or a test report showing non-compliant chemicals and the applicable Union or national law. |
| (b) | The product is unfit for purpose because it does not comply with Union or national law, for reasons other than those in point (a), and destruction is required by law or is the appropriate and proportionate corrective action. | A self-assessment statement giving the type of non-compliance and the applicable law. |
| (c) | The product infringes intellectual property rights, as found by a final judicial decision, an alternative dispute resolution decision, a notification by a right holder, a competent authority or an entity authorised to act on behalf of a right holder, or an internal investigation carried out by the operator, and the operator can duly substantiate the infringement. | The decision or notification, or documentation of the internal investigation. |
| (d) | A valid and enforceable licence or similar contractual requirement protecting intellectual property makes any sale or transfer after a specified period an infringement, that period has expired, and the operator can duly substantiate the infringement and demonstrate that destruction is the appropriate and proportionate corrective action. | The licence, contract or agreement concluded with the rightsholder that explicitly specifies the restriction on distribution or other transfer after the specified period, with a justification that destruction is appropriate and proportionate. |
| (e) | Labels, logos or recognisable product design or other characteristics that are protected by intellectual property rights, or considered inappropriate, cannot technically be removed or rendered permanently inaccessible, so the product is unsuitable for preparing for reuse or remanufacturing. | An inspection report or supporting documentation showing that the technical options were assessed and found unfeasible. |
| (f) | The product can reasonably be considered unacceptable for consumer use due to damage, deterioration or contamination (including hygiene issues), whether caused by consumers or in the supply chain, and repair and refurbishment are not technically feasible or cost-effective. | Evidence that the product went through quality assessment procedures, including visual inspection and sorting that prioritises restocking and repairs, with a description of the procedure, standardised remediation plans for specific types of damage and a description of the cases in which repair and refurbishment are not possible for technical or cost-effectiveness reasons; or an inspection record documenting the type and severity of the damage and why corrective measures are unfeasible. |
| (g) | Design or manufacturing defects make the product unfit for its intended purpose, and repair is not technically feasible. | As for point (f), on technical grounds only. |
| (h) | Only where none of points (a) to (g) applies: the product was offered for donation either directly to at least three suitable social economy entities located within the Union or on an easily accessible page of the operator's website, for a period of at least eight weeks, and was not accepted. | Evidence of the offer for donation. |
| (i) | A social economy entity located within the Union received the product as a donation, but no recipient could be found for it. | A declaration to that effect. |
| (j) | The product was made available on the market after being prepared for reuse by a waste treatment operator, but no recipient could be found for it. | Documentation that the product came from a waste treatment operator and that no recipient could be found. |
Article 1 defines "cost-effective", the test in point (f): repairing or refurbishing a product must not cost more than destroying it plus the materials, manufacturing, packaging, transport, stocking and other administrative or logistical expenses of replacing it. The documentation must be kept for five years after destruction and supplied in electronic form within 30 days of a request, unless the authority already holds it under another legal act (Article 3), and the waste treatment operator receiving the products must get a statement of the applicable derogation (Article 4). Recital 3 adds that destruction under a derogation is to follow the waste hierarchy, "prioritising recycling over other recovery, including energy recovery, and disposal operations".
One ESPR ground has no counterpart: Article 25(5)(g) allowed a derogation where "destruction is the option with the least negative environmental impacts", and none of the ten circumstances is framed on that ground. Instead, Article 5 asks the Commission to consider in its review, due whenever a product is added to Annex VII and by 12 May 2031 at the latest, whether new scientific data or the state of the art of technology justify a derogation for high-quality recycling technologies.
DPP AUDIT
The derogation evidence and the records behind the disclosure are product data, kept for five years.
Test reports, inspection records, licence terms and donation offers must be kept for five years after destruction and produced within 30 days of a request; once the Implementing Regulation applies, waste operators' reception and treatment statements must be kept for five years after disclosure. We help you set up that record-keeping alongside your passport data. Under NDA.
Start Your DPP Audit4. The disclosure duty: what to publish, where and when
The disclosure duty in Article 24 is wider than the ban: it covers every unsold consumer product an operator discards, directly or through others. Each year the operator must disclose (a) the number and weight discarded, by type or category; (b) the reasons and any derogation relied on; (c) the proportions delivered to preparing for reuse, recycling, other recovery including energy recovery, and disposal; and (d) the measures taken and planned to prevent destruction. The information goes "in a clear and visible manner at least on an easily accessible page of their website"; operators subject to sustainability reporting under Article 19a or 29a of Directive 2013/34/EU may also include it in that reporting. Once the Implementing Regulation applies, an operator that includes the information in the Annex I format in its sustainability reporting, whether mandatory or voluntary, may instead put a link to that report on its website with a clear mention of where the information is (Article 2(2)).
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 applies from 2 March 2027, to products discarded in each financial year "as from the first full financial year after the date of application", with disclosure due within 12 months of the end of that financial year (Articles 1 and 7). On that wording, a company whose financial year is the calendar year uses the format first for its 2028 discards, disclosed by the end of 2029. Recital 8 confirms that the ESPR duty itself runs in the meantime. (The Commission's announcement of 9 February 2026 said "February 2027"; the Official Journal text says 2 March 2027.)
The Annex I format asks for the legal entity and its identifier (the EUID or, where none is available, another identifier from an officially recognised scheme in the Member State concerned); standalone or consolidated disclosure, listing the subsidiaries that discard; the financial year; and, per product category and reason, the number of units, the weight in kilograms (stating whether packaging is included) and the percentages, by weight, sent to preparing for reuse, recycling, other recovery, disposal or "unknown". Units may be estimated from an accurately determined weight, or the weight from an accurately determined number of units; estimated values should be marked "±". As the format puts it, "Destruction is the sum of recycling, other recovery and disposal."
Categories use the first two digits of the CN code as the rule (61 for knitted apparel, 64 for footwear) and four digits for the products in Annex II, which for fashion and textiles include 4202 (bags and similar containers), 4203 (apparel and clothing accessories of leather), 4303 (furskin articles), 6301 to 6304, 6306 and 6307 (blankets, household linen, curtains, furnishing articles, tents and camping goods, other made-up articles) and 9404 (mattresses and articles of bedding such as quilts, eiderdowns, cushions and pillows). Donated products are outside the disclosure because, as recital 3 explains, the intention is not to discard them.
5. How compliance is checked, and what comes next
Competent national authorities check compliance. Annex III to the Implementing Regulation sets a risk-based approach, flagging for example missing or unusually low disclosures compared with peers or earlier years, a high percentage of "unknown" waste treatment and a record of non-compliance. Authorities can request records of deliveries to waste treatment operators; if the disclosed figure and the figure calculated from those records differ by less than 10 % of the disclosed figure, the operator is considered as complying with the disclosure requirement. Derogations are presumed applicable when the documentation required by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 is made available and meets its requirements. Under the Implementing Regulation, delivery and reception records must be kept for five years after disclosure (Article 4); ESPR Article 24(2) already requires the documentation to be provided within 30 days of a request.
Penalties are national: ESPR Article 74 requires effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties and that Member States be able to impose at least fines and time-limited exclusion from public procurement procedures; see our penalties guide. Two pending Commission proposals touch these rules: COM(2025) 504 would require the Article 24(2) documentation in electronic form only (the provisional agreement announced on 9 June 2026, confirmed by a Coreper letter dated 26 June 2026, was approved in the Parliament's committee on 14 July 2026, and the first-reading plenary is indicatively scheduled for 23 November 2026), and the proposed Public Procurement Act, COM(2026) 590, would delete the procurement-exclusion penalty from ESPR Article 74(3) and cover it through the new Act's own exclusion grounds. Neither had been adopted on 20 October 2026.
By 19 July 2027 and every 36 months after that, the Commission must publish consolidated information on the destruction of unsold consumer products, based on the disclosures (Article 26). It may add products to Annex VII by delegated act (Article 25(3)). ESPR recital 60 named electrical and electronic equipment for consideration in the first working plan, but in the Working Plan 2025–2030 the Commission states that it "does not intend to use this provision" for that plan, because the insights from the mandatory disclosures "are not yet available".
6. Where the Digital Product Passport fits
Neither the ban nor the disclosure duty is a Digital Product Passport requirement. The passport applies to a product group through delegated acts under ESPR Article 4 (Article 9(1)); Chapter VI needs none, because Article 25(1) and Annex VII fix the products and the date themselves. A large brand is therefore already bound by the ban, while the textile passport still awaits its delegated act; see our DPP master timeline. What the two share is the need for well-kept records: the derogation documentation must be kept for five years after destruction (Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296) and, under the Implementing Regulation, the delivery and reception records behind the disclosure for five years after disclosure (Article 4 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2).
7. What to do now
Classify each legal entity under Recommendation 2003/361/EC, taking partner and linked enterprises into account. For a large enterprise, the ban and the disclosure duty apply now; for a medium-sized enterprise, from 19 July 2030.
Map your assortment to Annex VII by CN code. Heading 4203, chapters 61 and 62, headings 6504 and 6505 and headings 6401 to 6405 are covered; 4202, 4303 and Chapter 63 are not, but they count for the disclosure.
Keep unsold stock out of destruction through sale, donation or preparing for reuse. Where destruction is unavoidable, record which of points (a) to (j) applies, keep the Article 3 documentation for five years and give the waste treatment operator the Article 4 statement.
Publish the annual disclosure on an easily accessible page of your website, keep the delivery and reception records (five years after disclosure under the Implementing Regulation), and use the Annex I format from the first full financial year after 2 March 2027.
Frequently asked questions
Does the ban apply to clothes returned by online customers?
Is recycling unsold clothing allowed under the ban?
Does the ban apply to small fashion brands?
Can we donate unsold stock instead, and do donations have to be disclosed?
Are handbags and home textiles covered by the ban?
Sources
- ESPR — the ban, the disclosure duty, the definitionsRegulation (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, amending Directive (EU) 2020/1828 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC. Article 2 (points 34, 36, 37 and 46, and the reference to Recommendation 2003/361/EC); Article 4; Article 9(1); Articles 23 to 26; Article 74; Article 80; recitals 55 to 60; Annex VII. No corrigendum published to date changes Articles 23 to 26 or Annex VII. CELEX 32024R1781 ↗
- The ten derogationsCommission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 of 9 February 2026 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council by setting out derogations from the prohibition of destruction of unsold consumer products (OJ L, 2026/296, 22.4.2026). Recital 3; Articles 1 to 6. CELEX 32026R0296 ↗
- The disclosure formatCommission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 of 9 February 2026 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the details and format for the disclosure of information on discarded unsold consumer products (OJ L, 2026/2, 10.2.2026). Recitals 3 and 8; Articles 1 to 7; Annexes I to III. CELEX 32026R0002 ↗
- Company sizeCommission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (2003/361/EC). Annex, Articles 2 to 6. CELEX 32003H0361 ↗
- Commission guidance and announcementsEuropean Commission, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR): Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), 1st edition, Ref. Ares(2024)6780548 of 25 September 2024, questions 126 to 128. CIRCABC ↗. Directorate-General for Environment news items "New EU rules to stop the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes" of 9 February 2026 environment.ec.europa.eu ↗ and "Ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application" of 17 July 2026 environment.ec.europa.eu ↗.
- Future extensions and pending proposalsCommunication from the Commission, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2025-2030, COM(2025) 187, section 4.2. CELEX 52025DC0187 ↗. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EU) No 765/2008, (EU) 2016/424, (EU) 2016/425, (EU) 2016/426, (EU) 2023/1230, (EU) 2023/1542 and (EU) 2024/1781 as regards digitalisation and common specifications, COM(2025) 504, Article 7, point (2). CELEX 52025PC0504 ↗. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on public contracts and concessions, repealing Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU, and amending Regulations (EC) No 1370/2007, (EU) 2023/1542, (EU) 2024/1157, (EU) 2024/1252, (EU) 2024/1735, (EU) 2024/1781, (EU) 2024/2847, (EU) 2024/3110 and (EU) 2025/40, and Directives 2008/98/EC, (EU) 2019/882, (EU) 2022/2381, (EU) 2023/1791 and (EU) 2024/1760 (Public Procurement Act), COM(2026) 590, Article 147, point (1). CELEX 52026PC0590 ↗. Adoption status checked in the Publications Office records and the Legislative Observatory on 20.10.2026: no act amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 has been adopted.
- Destruction volumesEuropean Environment Agency, The destruction of returned and unsold textiles in Europe’s circular economy, briefing published 4 March 2024, key messages. eea.europa.eu ↗
ESPR, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2, Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the Commission documents COM(2025) 187, COM(2025) 504 and COM(2026) 590 were read in the versions published by the EU Publications Office (EUR-Lex). ESPR has not been amended; its only consolidated version is dated 28 June 2024 and already incorporates the corrigenda of 7 August 2024 and 28 April 2025. The Commission pages, the Commission's ESPR FAQ and the EEA briefing were accessed on 03.10.2026. This is general information, not legal, financial or investment advice.