Fashion regulation & DPP timeline

Circular Economy Action Plan adopted

Foundation document that flagged Digital Product Passports as a future requirement across multiple product categories.

›Nothing to do. This is where the paper trail starts.

AGEC anti-waste law in force

France's Coût Environnemental framework becomes the operational baseline for textile environmental labelling.

›Selling into France already means playing by French labelling rules.

ESPR framework regulation enters into force

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation passes, empowering the Commission to publish category-specific delegated acts. Textiles are named in the first wave.

›The legal basis for textile DPPs now exists. The detail comes later, by delegated act.

DMCCA: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act

UK greenwashing enforcement framework. Tightens scrutiny of environmental claims and creates penalties for unsubstantiated marketing language.

›Any green claim you make in the UK needs evidence behind it now, not in 2027.

ESPR working plan 2025 to 2030 published

The Commission sets its running order for delegated acts and names textiles a priority category, with an indicative 2027 date for the textile measure.

›This is the source of the 2027 figure. It is an adoption target, not a compliance deadline.

Green Claims Directive stalls

The Commission announced its intention to withdraw the Green Claims proposal after feedback that it placed disproportionate requirements on micro-enterprises. It never formally withdrew it. The procedure remains open on paper, but the process has stalled.

›Green claims are still regulated, just through the Empowering Consumers Directive instead.

⚠Changed. Stalled, not withdrawn. Earlier guidance treating this as incoming law is out of date.

Empowering Consumers Directive transposition deadline

Member States must have written the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive into national law.

›The national rules that will police your claims are being finalised now.

JRC publishes the first textile DPP data specification

The Joint Research Centre sets out the first complete view of what a textile passport must carry: 49 data points across four categories.

›The clearest signal yet of what you will need to collect. Worth mapping against your current data today.

First harmonised DPP standards published

CEN and CENELEC publish the first six harmonised DPP standards: EN 18216, 18219, 18220, 18221, 18222 and 18223. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 lists them in the Official Journal on 15 July 2026, giving presumption of conformity with ESPR Articles 10 and 11.

›The technical rails are now set. Ask any DPP vendor which of these standards their system follows.

Public consultation reported to close

Secondary sources report the consultation on the JRC textile data specification closing on 26 June 2026. We have not confirmed the date against a Commission source, and no response summary has been published.

›Treat the lobbying window as probably shut, but do not assume the data model is frozen. Preparation is the useful move either way.

France adopts the anti-fast-fashion law

Parliament passed the bill on 29 June 2026 and it became law on 8 July. It targets high-volume, low-price textile sales, defined by range breadth and lack of repair incentive.

›If you sell high volumes into France at low price points, you are now in scope of a named regime.

ESPR ban on destroying unsold fashion applies

Large companies can no longer destroy unsold clothing, accessories and footwear. Medium companies follow in 2030. Small and micro companies are exempt.

›The first ESPR obligation actually in force for fashion, and proof the framework bites. Unsold stock now needs a route you can defend.

EU DPP registry goes live

The central registry that will hold passport identifiers opens under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, adopted on 16 July 2026.

›Infrastructure, not obligation. A live registry does not make textile DPPs mandatory, so treat vendor urgency built on it with care.

UK opens call for evidence on Digital Product Records

The government opens a call for evidence on Digital Product Records, its first formal step towards a UK equivalent of the DPP. EU DPP rules will apply in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework either way.

›Not a mandate. But the idea that the UK has nothing planned no longer holds, so respond if you want a say in the UK version.

Anti-fast-fashion penalties take effect

Financial penalties on ultra-fast-fashion products begin, from 25 cents to 12 euros per item, alongside display obligations on online interfaces covering repair, re-use and manufacturing location.

›The first per-product financial penalty in this space. Manufacturing location has to be displayable, which is supply chain data you either hold or do not.

Empowering Consumers rules apply

Bans sustainability labels that are not backed by an approved certification scheme, along with a list of unsubstantiated environmental claims. The same directive amends the Consumer Rights Directive, so from the same date a harmonised notice about the legal guarantee of conformity must appear at every point of sale, online and in store, in a format fixed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960.

›Unverified badges and vague claims come off your product pages.

Third parties may publish your coût environnemental

The duty to display the coût environnemental alongside any voluntarily communicated environmental score has applied since October 2025. Display otherwise stays voluntary. From 1 October 2026 third parties may calculate and publish a brand's score where the brand has not, which makes publishing first the safer option rather than a legal obligation.

›If you publish any environmental score in France, you must publish this one too. And third parties can publish yours either way.

EU Deforestation Regulation applies

EUDR obligations begin for large and medium companies. Scope runs off the CN-code list in Annex I. Finished garments and man-made cellulosic fibres are not listed, but the dissolving wood pulp behind viscose and lyocell is, so exposure sits upstream with fibre producers.

›Your garments are not automatically in scope. If you use viscose or lyocell, ask your fibre suppliers where they stand on EUDR rather than assuming your products are covered.

⚠Changed. Corrected. Earlier guidance said cellulosic fibres put textiles in scope. The Annex I list covers the pulp upstream, not garments or fibres.

Italy debates a national eco-score

Senate bill DDL S.1690 proposes SNET, a national eco-score ranking products A to E with commercial and fiscal consequences for poor performers, plus advertising restrictions on ultra-fast fashion.

›A second national scoring scheme after France. Watch it: two divergent national schemes is a very different data problem from one EU standard.

EUDR applies to micro and small enterprises

The smaller-company deadline for the same deforestation obligations, six months after the main date.

›Smaller brands get longer, but the sourcing evidence required is the same.

Textile delegated act expected

Defines what a textile DPP must contain, the data structures, the verification standards and the publication mechanism. The Commission's textile page plans adoption for Q4 2027 and marks the date indicative.

›The rules become fixed. Whatever data you have not gathered by now, you are gathering under a deadline.

⚠Changed. Moved twice. Earlier guidance said mid-2026, then 2027. The Commission now plans Q4 2027.

First products must carry a compliant passport

Obligations follow adoption rather than landing with it. ESPR guarantees at least 18 months between the delegated act entering into force and its requirements applying. Adoption in late 2027 puts the first obligations no earlier than 2029.

›The date your products are actually checked. Working back from it is the whole planning exercise.

⚠Changed. Moved. Earlier guidance pointed at 2028. The 18-month floor in ESPR pushes the earliest obligations to 2029.