Chemicals
Are Chemical Products in Scope of ESPR?
Are chemical products in scope of ESPR? The exclusions, where chemicals sit in the 2025–2030 working plan and what a chemical exporter should prepare now
Chemical manufacturers ask one question more than any other: "Do our products fall under ESPR?" Yes, but you are not next in line. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR, (EU) 2024/1781) covers almost every physical good and does not exclude chemicals; yet the 2025–2030 working plan names no chemical product group at all. Those two facts have to be read together.
The real point of contact between chemicals and the Digital Product Passport is other products' passports: the substance-of-concern fields of textile, furniture, steel and electronics passports are filled with the chemical supplier's data.
What ESPR covers and what it leaves out
ESPR extended the Ecodesign Directive's scope from energy-related products to physical goods in general. The exclusions in Article 1 are few:
| Product group | Position under ESPR |
|---|---|
| Food and feed | Out of scope |
| Medicinal and veterinary medicinal products | Out of scope |
| Living plants, animals and micro-organisms | Out of scope |
| Products of human origin | Out of scope |
| Products of plants and animals relating to their reproduction | Out of scope |
| Industrial chemicals, mixtures, intermediates | In scope; no delegated act |
See what ESPR is and who it covers. Being in scope creates no duty on its own: no product carries a passport until its delegated act applies, and as of September 2026 none is in force.
Where chemicals sit in the working plan
The working plan of 16 April 2025 prioritised final products and intermediates: iron and steel, aluminium, textiles, tyres, furniture, mattresses, plus horizontal measures (a repairability score, recycled content in electronics). Chemicals, detergents, paints and lubricants had featured in earlier candidate assessments but were not carried into this plan. See the ESPR working plan 2025–2030.
In practice, a chemical-specific passport requirement could surface at the earliest after the 2028 mid-term review. That is an expectation, not a timetable.
The back door: Article 7 and substances of concern
Article 7 of ESPR requires every product group's information requirements to enable tracking of substances of concern across the life cycle: substance name, location in the product, concentration or range, and safe-use and disassembly instructions. Those fields live in the textile, furniture, steel or electronics passport; their source is the supplier of the dye, finish, adhesive, additive or coating. See DPP data fields.
A chemical exporter is therefore part of the passport supply chain even without a passport of its own. The declaration for the dye sold to a dyehouse, the varnish sold to a furniture maker or the polymer sold to a converter ends up in those passports; a PDF today becomes structured fields tomorrow.
The chemical sector's own digital regimes
The chemical sector is going digital while it waits. The CLP revision introduced the digital label; the Detergents Regulation revision carries a product passport concept. Both sit outside ESPR but follow the same data-carrier logic:
- The CLP revision and digital labelling: hazard elements stay on the physical label, supplementary information may move to a data carrier.
- The Detergents Regulation and the digital label: the text agreed in 2025 includes a passport concept aligned with ESPR.
- DPP for paints and coatings: the preparation logic for one of the earlier candidate groups.
The common thread: one QR code can serve several regimes, so today's carrier infrastructure should survive whichever regulation arrives next.
What a chemical exporter should prepare now
- Structure the SDS. A PDF safety data sheet is not a passport data source; section 2 (classification) and section 3 (composition) must become structured fields.
- Consolidate SVHC and SCIP data in one source. Schedule reviews for candidate list updates. See DPP for chemicals, REACH and SCIP.
- Tie the UFI and the CLP classification to the product identity. The UFI generated for poison centre notification is part of the mixture's digital identity.
- Anticipate the customer's request format. Textile and furniture customers will ask for substance declarations in structured form, not the full formulation. See staying transparent while protecting trade secrets.
- Standardise product identity. Assign one identifier per mixture and grade; customer passports will reference it.
Start with the ESPR guide for scope and timeline detail.
Frequently asked questions
Are chemical products in scope of ESPR?
Yes. ESPR excludes only food, feed, medicinal products, living organisms, products of human origin and plant or animal products intended for reproduction; chemicals are in scope but not prioritised in the 2025–2030 working plan.
When will a DPP become mandatory for chemical products?
There is no date today. No chemical-specific delegated act appears in the 2025–2030 plan; the question may be revisited at the 2028 mid-term review, which is an indicative expectation.
As a chemical supplier, do I have to provide data for my customer's passport?
Contractually, almost certainly yes. REACH already requires substance information to flow along the supply chain, and your customer needs that data to fill the Article 7 fields.
