Digital Product Passport for electronics and appliances
This is the group merchants most often get wrong, because there is no single electronics deadline. Different appliances arrive on different dates through different mechanisms, and some are already live.
Short answer. Electronics are not a standalone ESPR priority group. They arrive three ways: through the sixteen energy-related products carried forward into ESPR on individual dates from 2026 to 2030, through horizontal requirements on repairability (2027) and on recycled content and recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment (2029), and — for smartphones and tablets — through rules that already applied from 20 June 2025.
What is in scope
The ESPR framework listed "ICT products and other electronics" as a candidate group. The first working plan did not make it a standalone priority. Instead, electronics are covered through three separate routes, and working out which applies to a given product is the whole exercise.
Route 1 — Energy-related products carried forward
Sixteen energy-related product groups transfer from the old Ecodesign Directive into ESPR, each with its own indicative date:
| Indicative year | Product groups |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Low-temperature emitters · household dishwashers · household washing machines and washer-dryers · professional laundry appliances · professional dishwashers · local space heaters (energy label) |
| 2027 | Displays |
| 2028 | EV chargers · electric motors and variable speed drives · refrigerating appliances including household fridges and freezers · refrigerating appliances with a sales function |
| 2029 | Light sources |
| End 2030 | Welding equipment · mobile phones and tablets · tumble dryers · standby and off-mode consumption · local space heaters (ecodesign, mid-2030) |
Separately, nineteen further product groups remain under the old Ecodesign Directive until 31 December 2026 — including photovoltaic panels, vacuum cleaners, cooking appliances, computers, servers and data storage, imaging equipment, and several heating and ventilation categories.
Route 2 — Horizontal requirements
Two horizontal acts cut across product groups: repairability including a scoring method, indicatively 2027, and recycled content and recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment, indicatively 2029. These apply irrespective of whether a product-specific act exists.
Route 3 — Rules already in force
Ecodesign and energy-labelling rules for smartphones and tablets have applied since 20 June 2025. These are worth studying closely even if you do not sell phones, because they are the closest thing to a working DPP in EU law today.
Timeline for Electronics & appliances
- 20 June 2025 Smartphone and tablet ecodesign and energy labelling apply. Mandatory EPREL registration before market, an on-product QR code linking to the full record, and the first mandatory repairability class (A–E) on an EU label.
- During 2026 Indicative acts for dishwashers, washing machines, washer-dryers, professional laundry and dishwashing, and low-temperature emitters.
- 31 December 2026 The Ecodesign Directive carve-out ends for 19 product groups, including computers, servers, vacuum cleaners, cooking appliances and imaging equipment.
- During 2027 Displays. Plus the horizontal repairability requirement with its scoring method.
- During 2028 EV chargers, electric motors and variable speed drives, and two refrigeration categories. ESPR working plan mid-term review.
- During 2029 Light sources. Plus the horizontal requirement on recycled content and recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment.
- End 2030 Mobile phones and tablets under ESPR proper, welding equipment, tumble dryers and standby consumption.
Data the passport has to carry
Because electronics arrive through several routes, there is no single field list. The most useful reference available today is what smartphones and tablets already have to publish, since that regime is live and is a plausible template for what follows.
| Field | What it means in practice | Status |
|---|---|---|
| EPREL registration | Suppliers must register in the EU product database before first making a product available on the EU market. Live today for smartphones and tablets. | In force |
| QR code to the full record | On-product QR linking to the complete EPREL entry. The clearest existing precedent for a DPP data carrier. | In force |
| Energy class | A–G, displayed on the label. | In force |
| Repairability class | A–E. The first mandatory repairability score on an EU label — and the model the horizontal 2027 repairability act is likely to generalise. | In force |
| Battery endurance & cycle life | Endurance per charge cycle and battery cycle endurance. Note this sits alongside, not instead of, any Batteries Regulation obligation. | In force |
| Drop resistance & IP rating | Drop-resistance class A–E and ingress protection rating. | In force |
| Spare parts & repair information | Availability, delivery time, affordability, and access to repair instructions. Expected to broaden under the horizontal repairability act. | Expected |
| Recycled content | Indicatively 2029 through the horizontal EEE act. Not yet defined. | Expected |
What this means if you sell electronics on PrestaShop
For an electronics retailer the practical problem is not any single deadline — it is that your catalogue spans a dozen regulatory regimes with different dates, and no one has mapped them to your SKUs.
What is enforceable today
If you sell smartphones or tablets into the EU, the ecodesign and labelling rules have applied since June 2025. The energy label with its repairability class must be displayed, and Article 32 of ESPR gives you the right to demand printed labels or digital copies from the operator placing the product on the market, free of charge and within five working days of your request. Article 31(3) also prohibits displaying other labels or marks likely to be confused with the regulated one — worth auditing if you add your own eco-badges.
The Right to Repair deadline nobody is watching
Directive (EU) 2024/1799 has a transposition and application deadline of 31 July 2026. It covers washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, electronic displays, mobile phones, tablets and servers. Manufacturers must repair within a reasonable time and price even after the legal guarantee expires, must not obstruct repair contractually or technically, and must publish indicative repair prices on a freely accessible website. Choosing repair over replacement extends the legal guarantee by a year.
As a dealer you are not the one repairing, but this changes what your customers expect and what your product pages need to say.
And the battery inside
Any product containing a battery above the relevant threshold picks up battery obligations independently of its own product group. A cordless appliance is both an energy-related product and a battery host, and the two regimes run in parallel. See batteries.
How to prepare now
Map your catalogue to regimes, not to categories
Build a sheet that tags every SKU with: its energy-related product group if any, whether it is one of the nineteen still under the old Directive until end-2026, whether it contains an in-scope battery, and whether it falls under the Right to Repair list. Most electronics retailers have never done this and are surprised by how many regimes a single catalogue touches.
Study the smartphone regime as a dry run
It is live, it works, and it demonstrates the pattern: central database, pre-market registration, on-product QR, public and restricted tiers. If you can operate that, you can operate a DPP.
Get your label supply chain working
The five-working-day rule for obtaining labels and data carriers from suppliers is a right you have to actually exercise. Test it now on a supplier you expect to be difficult, while the stakes are low.
Questions
Is there one date when electronics need a Digital Product Passport?
Do computers and laptops have a date?
Mobile phones already have rules — why are they also listed for 2030?
Does the repairability score apply to everything in 2027?
Sources
Other product groups
Batteries
The only product group with a binding passport date already set. LMT, EV and industrial batteries above 2 kWh, from 18 February 2027.
Textiles & apparel
First named priority under ESPR, and already subject to the unsold-goods destruction ban that took effect in July 2026.
Tyres
A priority group with an indicative 2027 act, and one that already carries mandatory EU labelling.
Get the data before you need the passport
Whatever your product group, the bottleneck is the same: supplier data you do not have yet. The readiness checklist tells you what to start asking for.