Sittings · Document
Follow-up to the European Parliament non-legislative resolution on a new legislative framework for products that is fit for the digital and sustainable transition
Rapporteur: David Cormand (The Greens/EFA / FR)
References: 2024/2119(INI) / A10-0189/2025 / P10_TA(2025)0242
Date of adoption of the resolution: 21 October 2025
Competent Parliamentary Committee: Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO)
Brief analysis / assessment of the resolution and requests made in it:
The Resolution addresses the need to update the New Legislative Framework (NLF) for products to keep pace with digitalisation, sustainability objectives and the circular economy. It acknowledges that while the NLF has served the Single Market well (harmonised definitions, CE-marking, market-surveillance structures) it now needs reinforcement to cover emerging issues such as digital products, complex value chains, refurbishing, remanufacturing and sustainability-linked business models. It emphasises the need for regulatory coherence, the integration of sustainability goals, digital readiness and circular-economy imperatives into product-legislation structures.
The Parliament requests that the Commission propose:
Clearer and harmonised definitions (e.g., ‘refurbishment’, ‘remanufacturing’, ‘digital product passport’);
Alignment of product-legislation with digital and circular-economy models (e.g., improved digital documentation, introduction of a digital product passport, enhanced product traceability);
Strengthened market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms across Member States to ensure non-compliant or unsafe products cannot enter or remain in the market;
Modernised standardisation and conformity-assessment frameworks to be more agile, representative and future-proof, supporting innovation while ensuring product safety and sustainability;
Improved coherence between product legislation and sustainability/eco-design legislation, ensuring the internal market is safeguarded while supporting the green transition and maintaining competitiveness.
Response to requests and overview of actions taken, or intended to be taken, by the Commission:
The Commission welcomes the European Parliament’s resolution on the NLF for products that is fit for the digital and sustainable transition. The resolution supports the Commission’s intention to modernise EU product rules, so they remain effective in light of digitalisation, sustainability objectives and new business models.
Roles and responsibilities of the economic operators (paragraphs 1-8)
This chapter calls for a modernised, future-proof NLF that strengthens legal certainty, consumer protection, and competitiveness by clarifying and updating the roles and responsibilities of all economic operators, including non-EU actors, while ensuring consistency with related EU legislation. It also stresses the need for stronger, better-coordinated market surveillance - supported by digital tools, risk-based supervision, and potentially an EU-level authority - to ensure safe, compliant products and fair competition across the internal market.
The Commission has launched the revision of the NLF to examine how its definitions and modules can be adapted to support digital product information, circular-economy practices and updated conformity-assessment processes. At the same time, the NLF must ensure coherence across sectoral legislation, regain its role as a true horizontal framework, and maintain its future-proof relevance. The public consultations on the revision of the NLF started on 12 November 2025 and ended on 4 February 2026. The adoption of the legislative proposal is expected in quarter 3 of 2026. At the same time, the call for evidence and the questionnaire for public consultations for the evaluation and the revision of the Market Surveillance Regulation have been launched and the expected timeline for the adoption of the new legislative proposal for the market surveillance framework is also quarter 3 of 2026. Finally, the public consultation on the revision of the Standardisation Regulation took place between 24 September 2025 and 17 December 2025.
The package of three initiatives – revision of the NLF, evaluation and revision of the Market Surveillance Regulation and the revision of the Standardisation Regulation - aim to bring greater coherence to the EU horizontal product framework, by bringing them together under a single European Product Act, thereby forming the backbone of a consistent internal-market architecture, while supporting innovation, competitiveness and sustainability.
Digital Product Passport (paragraphs 9-20)
The paragraphs of the report on the Digital Product Passport (DPP) highlight that the DPP is a horizontal, interoperable tool that centralises reliable, harmonised information on product compliance, sustainability, circularity, and performance, empowering consumers, supporting businesses, and strengthening market surveillance through better data access, interoperability with existing systems, and streamlined conformity requirements. It calls on the Commission to gradually integrate the DPP into the NLF, ensure secure and accessible data carriers, consider its use for second-hand goods, align it with CE-marking information and sustainability metrics, and implement it in a way that reduces administrative burdens while maintaining consumer protection and promoting the circular economy.
In the 2022 evaluation of the NLF, the Commission already identified the Digital Product Passport as a possible simplification tool and means of lifting administrative burden of the economic operators. The evaluation highlighted that a possible future revision may want to consider introducing the possibility of the digital CE marking and the digital product passport, which could include an electronic declaration of conformity and the description of the conformity assessment procedure. The digitalisation of product information and CE marking could make the work of market surveillance authorities and customs more effective.
The 2023 Impact Assessment for the Toys Safety Regulation estimated that moving to digital provision of compliance information could save EUR 2.62-3.93 million per year in that sector alone. In addition, it would lower the costs of inspections for companies, as relevant documentation would be available online facilitating document retrieval.
The DPP will first be implemented under the Batteries Regulation as of February 2027.
The European Product Act, through the revision of the New Legislative Framework, is planned to introduce the DPP as a horizontal digital tool, serving as a digital container for all relevant product information. The impact assessment study for the revision of the NLF will examine the costs and benefits of introducing the DPP into the horizontal product framework, including how to make use of the DPP infrastructure under development based on the ESPR and avoiding any negative impacts on the implementation of the existing legislation. The purpose of collecting information through public and targeted consultations, as well as interviews, is to identify the most effective way to digitalise product compliance information while enhancing the efficiency of product checks.
Sustainable business models and consumption patterns (paragraphs 21-25)
These paragraphs of the report call for aligning the NLF with wider EU sustainability initiatives to support durable, repairable, long-lasting products and to streamline compliance through digitalisation and simplified procedures. It encourages assessing extended producer responsibility within the NLF, strengthening requirements for spare parts and end-of-life management, and addressing the challenges posed by fast and ultra-fast fashion through harmonised definitions, stronger conformity assessment, and enhanced enforcement to ensure fair competition and high consumer protection.
The 2022 evaluation of the NLF highlighted that since the adoption of the NLF, industry and products have transformed radically, in particular due to the digital and the circular economy aspects.
In the meantime, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) which entered into force on 18 July 2024, constitutes an important and comprehensive framework, with delegated acts to be adopted for specific product categories to set detailed sustainability and circularity requirements.
Recent pieces of EU sectoral legislation increasingly address the compatibility of processes with environmental and sustainability criteria, while the horizontal set of conformity assessment procedures was originally designed to examine product compliance with essential requirements.
The impact assessment study of the NLF will explore how to best support product sustainability in line with the ESPR while creating a flexible framework that fosters innovation and strengthens competitiveness.
Second-hand sellers, refurbishers, repairers and associated operators in the circular economy business model (paragraphs 26-31)
This part of the report calls for harmonised EU definitions of remanufacturers, refurbishers, repairers and related circular-economy actors to ensure legal clarity, proportional obligations, and consistency with the ESPR, thereby supporting sustainable and competitive business models and the second-hand market, also boosting the creation of good-quality jobs in the EU. It highlights the need for an EU-wide certification scheme to build consumer trust, improved access to technical documentation (potentially via the DPP), a clear definition and assessment procedure for “substantial modification,” and guidance on common repair practices, while also emphasising the economic potential of recommerce (which involves refurbishers, repairers and other emerging actors) and the importance of awareness-raising on reuse.
The 2022 evaluation of the NLF found that the main source of uncertainty lies in the obligations and responsibilities of economic operators in the context of product circularity, particularly the distinction between refurbishment and substantial modification. This distinction is often unclear: if a product undergoes modifications that change its original performance, purpose, or type - and these changes were not foreseen in the initial risk assessment - it should be considered a new product, whereas refurbishment typically does not involve such alterations. Clear differentiation between circularity-related interventions is essential to ensure product safety and protect consumers and will be addressed in the revision of the NLF.
The NLF revision will take into account that the responsibilities of economic operators involved in circularity should therefore be clearly defined, ensuring appropriate liability for the safety of products issued from circularity and guaranteeing consumer protection. In doing so, the Commission also recognises the need to support the development of sustainable and competitive business models, which in turn also boost the creation of good-quality jobs in the EU.
Standardisation and conformity assessments (paragraphs 32-39)
This part of the Report emphasises the crucial role of harmonised standards in supporting EU public-interest objectives and ensuring a well-functioning single market, while highlighting persistent challenges such as delays in standard development and publication, which create legal uncertainty, hinder innovation, and weaken enforcement. It calls for faster and more coordinated standardisation processes, stronger EU and international cooperation, improved inclusiveness and funding for SMEs and civil-society actors, a review of conformity assessment modules to reflect technological developments and product risk, and more consistent oversight of notified bodies - potentially including mandatory accreditation - to ensure competence, impartiality, and credibility across the EU.
The Commission intends to present the revision of the NLF, the evaluation and revision of the Market Surveillance Regulation and the revision of the Standardisation Regulation as a coherent legislative package aimed at ensuring that EU product rules remain fit for the digital and green transition, while supporting competitiveness and innovation and ensuring more efficient product checks and improved product compliance in the EU. Once revised, the NLF, Market Surveillance Regulation and Standardisation Regulation will be brought together into a single, coherent European Product Act.
A well-functioning standardisation system is essential for the NLF, as the presumption of conformity as one of the main principles of the NLF relies on the availability of harmonised standards. The recent pieces of product harmonisation legislation introduce common specifications as a fallback option, carrying the same legal effect as harmonised standards and likewise granting a presumption of conformity in the absence of harmonised standards. This solution will also be reflected in the future NLF.
The impact assessment for the revision of the NLF will examine how to strengthen the conformity assessment system and ensure its robustness, including improved oversight over the notified bodies and their more coherent competences and practices across the Union. The mandatory accreditation of notified bodies is also among the options to be assessed in the study.