Short answer
EU circular-economy law allocates different life-cycle duties at different stages.
- Design and manufacture: the manufacturer normally carries the main conformity duty. Detailed ecodesign requirements attach when a product group is covered by a delegated act.
- Import and distribution: importers and distributors act as conformity gatekeepers. They check specified documents, markings, registration and product information, withhold non-compliant products and cooperate on corrective action.
- Sale and repair: the seller remains responsible for remedies for non-conforming consumer goods. From 31 July 2026, national law must also provide a distinct manufacturer repair duty outside that period for covered product groups.
- Waste: the waste holder must ensure lawful treatment. Extended producer responsibility, or EPR, can additionally make the product producer finance or organise the waste stage.
- Sector overlays: packaging and batteries add their own producer registration, EPR, collection and take-back rules. A producer responsibility organisation may perform tasks collectively, but appointment of one does not erase every legal responsibility of the producer.
Right-to-repair national measures apply from 31 July 2026. The new packaging Regulation generally applies from 12 August 2026. Battery waste rules already apply, while battery replaceability generally begins on 18 February 2027.
Start with the role, product and stage
“Producer” does not always mean the factory. Each instrument defines roles for its own purpose. A company can be a manufacturer under product law, an importer because it brings goods from outside the EU, a distributor because it supplies them, a seller under a consumer contract and a “producer” for EPR because it first makes a product available in a Member State.
One item can therefore generate parallel conformity, consumer-remedy, EPR and waste-transfer duties. Contracts may allocate costs without erasing statutory duties to consumers or authorities.
Design: the manufacturer leads, but detailed ecodesign duties are product-specific
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation or ESPR, establishes a framework for performance and information requirements, including durability, reparability, recycled content and resource use.
The framework is not one checklist for every product. Commission delegated acts identify covered product groups, requirements, assessment methods, dates and transitions.
Once an act applies, the manufacturer must meet its requirements, supply information, assess conformity, prepare documentation and maintain any required digital product passport. It must correct non-conformity and, where appropriate, withdraw or recall the product.
Importers verify specified manufacturer steps before placing the product on the market. Distributors check required markings, labels, instructions and passport access. Dealers provide required label and passport information. Own-branding or substantial modification can transfer manufacturer duties.
ESPR also addresses unsold consumer products. Its destruction ban for unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear has applied since 19 July 2026 to operators in scope. Micro and small enterprises are excluded; medium-sized enterprises enter scope from 19 July 2030. Delegated Regulation 2026/296 now defines documented exceptions, including safety, legal non-compliance, certain damage and failed donation routes. Common disclosure formatting under Implementing Regulation 2026/2 applies from 2 March 2027.
Repair: separate the seller's remedy from the manufacturer's later duty
Two repair tracks are easily confused.
First, Directive (EU) 2019/771 makes the seller answer for non-conforming goods during the liability period. From 31 July 2026, national measures applying Directive (EU) 2024/1799 add a one-time 12-month extension when the consumer chooses repair; that amendment applies to later contracts.
Second, outside seller liability, the manufacturer must repair goods for which an Annex II EU act imposes repairability requirements, and only to that extent. Delegated Directive 2026/74 added domestic local space heaters. Repair must be free or reasonably priced and timely, not indefinite for every product.
If the manufacturer is outside the EU, responsibility moves to its authorised representative, then the importer, then the distributor. Physical repair may be subcontracted. Spare parts and tools must not be priced to deter repair, unjustified repair barriers are prohibited, and prior independent repair alone is not a reason to refuse.
Because Directive 2024/1799 requires national implementation, a cross-border repair assessment must still identify the relevant Member State's transposing law, competent authority and remedies.
Waste: possession and producer responsibility coexist
Directive 2008/98/EC, the Waste Framework Directive, begins with the waste hierarchy: prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery and, last, disposal. Once an item is waste, the original waste producer or current holder must carry out treatment or arrange it through an authorised collector, dealer or treatment operator.
Article 14 states the default cost rule:
“the costs of waste management ... shall be borne by the original waste producer or by the current or previous waste holders.” —
Preliminary transfer does not generally discharge responsibility for complete recovery or disposal. National law determines how treatment-chain responsibility is shared or delegated.
Under Articles 8 and 8a, Member States or sector legislation can make product producers finance or organise the waste stage. EPR does not cancel the waste holder's duty to use lawful routes.
The Court of Justice illustrated the distinction in Commune de Mesquer, C-188/07, concerning oil spilled after a shipwreck. Under the predecessor directive, the product producer did not bear disposal costs merely because it made the product:
“such a producer cannot be liable to bear that cost unless he has contributed by his conduct to the risk” —
Liability depended on contributing to the pollution risk. The case requires actor-and-causation analysis, not a rule that the original manufacturer pays every waste bill.
Packaging: a new directly applicable system starts in August 2026
Until Regulation (EU) 2025/40 generally applies on 12 August 2026, Directive 94/62/EC and national packaging-EPR systems remain the starting point. PPWR then largely replaces the Directive with directly applicable rules.
Under PPWR, the manufacturer must ensure packaging conforms, complete assessment and documentation, label it and correct non-conformity. Importers and distributors verify specified conformity and registration information and withhold non-compliant packaging.
The EPR “producer” depends on where and how packaging or a packaged product is first made available, including distance sales and certain unpacking. It registers in each relevant Member State and bears EPR. A producer responsibility organisation may act collectively; platforms and fulfilment providers have targeted checks.
Businesses should map packaging flows by Member State. The entity filling, importing or remotely selling the packaged product may be the EPR producer.
Batteries: product conformity, EPR and distributor take-back run together
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 already applies to most battery duties. The manufacturer handles conformity, documentation, marking and corrective action; importers and distributors perform checks. Remanufacturing, repurposing or own-branding can create manufacturer status.
For the waste stage, a producer must register in every Member State where it first makes batteries available and bears EPR for those batteries. Article 56 provides:
“Producers shall have extended producer responsibility for batteries that they make available on the market for the first time within the territory of a Member State.” —
Financial responsibility includes collection, transport, treatment, information and reporting. An authorised organisation may act for the producer.
Distributors separately take back relevant waste batteries free and without requiring a new purchase, within Article 62's limits. Distance sellers provide collection arrangements; end users use separate collection routes.
From 18 February 2027, portable batteries in appliances must generally be end-user removable and replaceable, while light-means-of-transport batteries must be replaceable by an independent professional. Relevant QR-code and passport duties also begin then. Battery due diligence was postponed to 18 August 2027.
A practical responsibility map
For each product and Member State, record:
- the manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, distributor, dealer and seller;
- every applicable ESPR delegated act and its application date;
- who owes consumer conformity remedies and who would owe the Annex II repair duty;
- who is the EPR producer for each packaging and battery flow;
- producer registrations, representative or producer responsibility organisation mandates and fee data;
- distributor take-back and distance-sales collection arrangements;
- repair, collection and treatment contracts, without treating outsourcing as automatic discharge;
- conformity, repair, waste-transfer and corrective-action evidence; and
- transition dates, national measures and product-specific exceptions.
Conclusion
EU life-cycle regulation uses layered responsibility. Manufacturers lead conformity; importers and distributors guard market access; sellers provide consumer remedies; manufacturers or their EU substitutes take the product-specific repair route; waste holders arrange lawful treatment; and EPR producers finance or organise the waste stage.
The reliable method is to identify the role under each instrument, the Member State and the date. Labels such as “manufacturer”, “seller” or “producer” are not interchangeable, and neither outsourcing nor joining a collective scheme should be assumed to transfer every statutory obligation.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.