EU & UK Product Compliance 2026: PPWR, ESPR, Digital Product Passports & More

Executive summary

The webinar’s central message is that EU and UK product regulation is shifting from declared compliance to demonstrated compliance. Regulators are building systems to make product and supply-chain information more structured, digital, searchable, and available for enforcement. For businesses, this makes verified data—not just technical files and policies—increasingly important.

The speakers recommend treating compliance as an ongoing, cross-functional operating process: monitor rule changes, determine which products and markets are affected, collect reliable supplier data early, assign owners, and retain evidence of decisions and actions.

EU product regulation

Digital compliance information and Digital Product Passports

• Omnibus IV: A provisional agreement reached by the Council and Parliament on 9 June would amend around 20 product laws to make compliance information digital by default.
  • Digital declarations of conformity would become the norm.
  • Traceability labels and compliance declarations would need a digital contact point.
  • Digital instructions would be permitted, but key consumer safety information would still need to be available on paper or on the product.
  • The Commission would gain fallback powers to adopt common specifications when harmonized standards are unavailable or stalled. This could shift influence over technical requirements from industry-led standardization toward the Commission.
• Digital Product Passports (DPPs):
  • The Commission’s registry went live on 20 July as a testing environment; this was an infrastructure deadline, not a company registration deadline.
  • Product-specific obligations will come through delegated acts. Batteries are expected first, in February 2027; toys are expected by 2030.
  • Six harmonized standards for interoperability and data exchange were published; two further standards concerning the passport lifecycle were not included in that package.
  • The main operational challenge is supplier data: manufacturers may need 12–18 months to collect and verify material and supply-chain information. Companies in earlier product categories should start now.

Repairability and product life-cycle obligations

• The Right to Repair Directive’s transposition deadline was 31 July. The speakers said only a handful of member states had formally notified complete transposition, creating near-term differences between national regimes.
  • Where consumers choose repair over replacement under the statutory warranty, the guarantee is extended by 12 months.
  • Manufacturers must repair certain goods outside the legal guarantee at a reasonable price and support repair through tools such as a European repair information form and online repair platform.
• ESPR repairability measures for consumer electronics, small household appliances, and light means of transport remained in consultation, with adoption expected around Q2 2027. Anticipated requirements include spare-parts availability, disassembly, limits on parts pairing, software and firmware updates, and repair scoring.
• Smartphones and tablets have displayed a repairability class on the Energy Label since June 2025.
• Under the Batteries Regulation, portable batteries are generally expected to be removable and replaceable by end users. A 14 July delegated act created partial exemptions for certain products, including some wearables and electronic toys; these may still require removal by an independent professional.
• Operational implication: Companies selling across the EU may need to design repair processes around the strictest relevant national requirements while implementation remains uneven.

Digital consumer practices and enforcement

• The proposed Digital Fairness Act (DFA) had no published legal text at the time of the webinar. The Commission was expected to propose it in the following months.
• Anticipated areas include:
  • Subscription traps, cancellation journeys, chat-bot-only customer service, in-app purchases, and withdrawal rights.
  • Dark patterns, including confirm shaming, click fatigue, fake urgency, and scarcity claims.
  • Personalized, dynamic, and drip pricing, and misleading discounts or comparisons.
  • Vulnerable consumers and minors, including profiling, addictive design, and problematic in-game features.
• The speakers advised businesses not to wait for the DFA: many relevant protections already exist under current consumer law. Audit product claims, checkout flows, cancellation journeys, urgency messaging, and marketing practices.

Stronger market surveillance and customs controls

• A European Product Act was expected in September, potentially combining revisions to the New Legislative Framework and Market Surveillance Regulation. Possible measures include stronger EU-level enforcement, more authority for market-surveillance bodies and customs, and updated rules for e-commerce, refurbished products, and product conformity.
• A revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation was also expected. Whether the EU creates a centralized enforcement authority remains an open question. The speakers outlined two possibilities:
  • A coordination body supporting national authorities, joint campaigns, intelligence, and customs coordination.
  • A more direct authority able to investigate, demand information, and issue binding decisions.
• The customs reform agreed politically on 26 March is described as the largest reform since the Customs Union’s creation in 1968.
  • A new EU Customs Authority would coordinate risk management.
  • A single customs data hub would replace 27 national interfaces: e-commerce from July 2028, non-e-commerce operators from 2031, and mandatory use for all traders by March 2034.
  • E-commerce platforms could become deemed importers and face new liability.
  • The low-value duty exemption was described as having ended, with a €3 per-item duty on small parcels introduced in July.
• Business implication: Online sellers should expect more scrutiny at the border and more deliberate identification of the legally accountable product, seller, and importer.

UK product regulation and consumer enforcement

Product safety framework

• The UK’s proposed Product Regulation and Metrology Act (PRAM) would create a horizontal framework under which the government could introduce detailed secondary legislation more quickly.
• Consultations covered a proposed core product-safety framework and market-surveillance enforcement. Government responses were expected in Q3 or Q4, with secondary legislation anticipated from 2027 onwards.
• Proposals would:
  • Potentially extend safety duties beyond consumer products, while appearing not to cover standalone software.
  • Add duties for producers, onward suppliers, and online marketplaces.
  • Allow digital labelling while requiring online product information.
  • Explicitly include cybersecurity, AI, and machine-learning risks in safety assessments.
• The inclusion of software-related risks points toward a continuing safety obligation: a product may become unsafe after sale through a software update or model drift.

DMCCA enforcement and practical lessons

• The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) came into force on 6 April 2025. The CMA can now determine certain consumer-law infringements directly, impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover, and order consumer redress.
• In its first year, the CMA had launched investigations into 14 businesses, issued 46 information notices, and sent 157 warning letters.
• Examples discussed:
  • AA and BSM driving schools: Fined more than £4.2 million and ordered to refund over £760,000 to more than 80,000 learner drivers over hidden fees and checkout practices.
  • StubHub: Fined nearly £900,000 over drip pricing and required to provide just over £500,000 in redress to more than 50,000 customers.
  • Euro Car Parks: Fined for failing to respond properly to an information notice, showing that procedural non-compliance can itself lead to penalties.
  • Emma Sleep: Under the prior regime, the CMA pursued misleading urgency claims, countdown timers, and discount practices.
• The speakers highlighted three enforcement features:
  1. Automated detection: The CMA is using AI agents to review purchase journeys at scale.
  2. Group-level exposure: Liability may reach parent companies.
  3. Fines plus redress: Businesses may have to administer compensation at their own expense, alongside potential class-action risk.
• Action: Walk through your own purchase journey end to end as a customer. Check headline prices, mandatory fees, discounts, countdowns, urgency claims, and cancellation steps.

Northern Ireland

Businesses selling into Northern Ireland may need to account for both UK and EU rules. The speakers said the practical burden has so far been limited because the UK continues to accept the CE mark, but future EU requirements—such as battery rules—may make dual compliance more challenging, particularly for smaller manufacturers.

ESG and sustainability requirements

Regulation Timing and business implications discussed ESPR unsold consumer-goods disclosures Companies selling consumer products in the EU must publicly disclose quantities of unsold goods and reasons for discarding them. For calendar-year companies, the first reporting period was described as 2025, with publication due within 12 months—by December 2026. The disclosure duty is broader than the separate destruction ban, which covers certain product categories. Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) The speakers said it started applying on the webinar date. Packaging manufacturers and importers of packaging or packaged products should have declarations of conformity and technical documentation for each packaging type, including sales, group, and transport packaging, and meet applicable labelling requirements. The regulation also creates an extended producer responsibility (EPR) regime. Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive New green-claims rules and required consumer information about guarantees and warranties were due to apply from September. Businesses should update websites, checkout flows, and, where relevant, in-store materials. EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) After repeated delays and changes, obligations were expected to apply from December 2026. Companies placing in-scope products or commodities on the EU market need to prepare for the resulting due-diligence burden. Forced Labour Regulation Applies from December 2027 and prohibits products or components made with forced labour anywhere in the supply chain. Companies will need systems to identify and assess risks beyond their own operations, including among suppliers and sub-suppliers. CSRD The revised scope described for EU companies was more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million in global revenue, with reporting from financial year 2027. Non-EU parent companies were described as in scope from financial year 2028 if they generate more than €450 million in EU turnover and have an EU subsidiary or branch generating more than €200 million. The revised ESRS were described as easier to use and containing fewer data points. CSDDD The compliance deadline was pushed to July 2029, with scope narrowed to large companies. The Commission was consulting on guidance covering contracts, risk assessment, and stakeholder consultation. Battery due diligence The obligations were delayed by two years to August 2027. They require businesses to identify and mitigate environmental and social risks in battery supply chains, including pollution and labour issues. The speakers recommended starting preparations early because implementation requires multiple internal stakeholders. Circular Economy Act A proposal was expected toward the end of the year. A possible EU-wide EPR “one-stop shop” was identified as an idea to monitor, potentially simplifying cross-border registration and reporting.

For PPWR enforcement, the speakers said the Commission had updated its FAQs to encourage national authorities to help companies reach compliance, starting with warnings and corrections rather than immediate sanctions. They cautioned that the FAQs are not legally binding and said they did not expect a delay to the regulation’s start date.

Practical compliance playbook

• Monitor: Track proposed, approved, and enforced rules—not just final legislation—and record the relevant deadlines and status.
• Scope: Map each obligation to products, markets, legal entities, sales channels, and supply-chain roles.
• Prioritize: Rank changes by urgency, business impact, and affected product volume; assign owners and escalate high-risk items.
• Build data readiness: Start supplier-data collection early, particularly for DPPs, deforestation, forced-labour, and due-diligence requirements. Validate data and make it retrievable on demand.
• Review customer journeys: Audit product claims, pricing, checkout, cancellation, and warranty information. Test the journey as a customer would, including on digital channels.
• Refresh assessments: Companies that completed a CSRD double materiality assessment in 2024 should refresh it to account for changes in the business and external context. A full restart may not be necessary if the earlier work remains sound; revised standards allow a more flexible, top-down approach.
• Prepare for evidence-based enforcement: Keep documentation and supporting evidence organized so teams can demonstrate compliance quickly to regulators or customs authorities.

Adherent’s product and operating model

Carrie Whan presented Adherent as an AI-enabled product-compliance platform intended to connect regulatory monitoring to prioritization and business action. The described workflow is:

1. Monitor proposed, approved, and enforced regulations.
2. Assess relevance, urgency, and business impact.
3. Translate changes into affected products, required actions, stakeholders, and evidence needs.

Adherent said its platform draws on a regulatory dataset maintained with internal regulatory experts for nearly 25 years, covering more than 127,000 regulations, 1 million requirements, and 60,000 standards across 195 countries. The company positioned this expert-curated data as a way to improve speed while retaining traceability and defensibility. These were company-reported product claims.

Presenters and sources

• Carrie Whan — Senior Product Marketing Manager, Adherent; webinar moderator and presenter on the Adherent platform.
• Claire Temple — Partner, Cooley; product regulation, consumer protection, and product-liability topics.
• Emma Bashir — Partner and Head of Cooley’s European ESG and Sustainability Advisory practice; sustainability, reporting, and supply-chain diligence topics.