ESPRTrackerEU

ESPR unsold goods disclosure tracker

A tracker for ESPR Article 24 disclosures and the Article 25 ban on destroying unsold apparel, clothing accessories, and footwear.

It maps the 2026 disclosure format, CN categories, waste-treatment percentages, derogation evidence, five-year retention rules, and operator-size dates.

Back to main artifact Review sources

Author

Sorena AI

Published

May 9, 2026

Updated

Jul 25, 2026

Sections

Structured answer sets in this page tree.

Primary sources

Cited legal and guidance references.

Publication metadata

Sorena AI

Published May 9, 2026

Updated Jul 25, 2026

Overview

Large economic operators that discard , or have them discarded on their behalf, must publish annual Article 24 information. Medium-sized enterprises enter that duty on 19 July 2030; micro and small enterprises are excluded unless a later act applies the duty to prevent circumvention. Separately, from 19 July 2026, Article 25 prohibits covered large operators from destroying the apparel, clothing accessories, and footwear listed in Annex VII unless a derogation in Regulation (EU) 2026/296 applies. Use the tracker to make those two decisions separately.

Section 1

Classify the product and duty before counting it

Start each row by confirming that the item is a consumer product and is unsold. ESPR includes products that never sold, including surplus stock and deadstock, and products returned under a withdrawal right or a longer trader return period. Regulation (EU) 2026/2 clarifies that donation is not discarding; the disclosure duty concerns products discarded as waste for a waste-treatment operation.

Then classify the enterprise and the action. Article 24 excludes micro and small enterprises and applies to medium-sized enterprises from 19 July 2030. Article 25 uses the same size dates for the destruction ban, but also bars an operator outside the ban from destroying goods supplied to it to circumvent the prohibition.

ESPR uses the enterprise categories in Recommendation 2003/361/EC. A microenterprise has fewer than 10 staff and turnover or a balance-sheet total no higher than EUR 2 million; a small enterprise has fewer than 50 staff and turnover or a balance-sheet total no higher than EUR 10 million; the SME ceiling is fewer than 250 staff and turnover no higher than EUR 50 million or a balance-sheet total no higher than EUR 43 million. Apply the Recommendation's autonomous, partner, and linked-enterprise calculations rather than testing one legal entity in isolation.

Product record: product type or category, internal SKU or model family, and consumer-product classification.
Unsold status: surplus stock, excess inventory, deadstock, withdrawal return, or longer trader-return case.
Operator record: economic operator name, enterprise-size status, direct discard or discard on behalf, and whether another operator supplied the goods.
Size evidence: staff headcount, turnover, balance-sheet total, accounting period, autonomous-partner-linked enterprise analysis, and the source records used for the calculation.
Duty record: Article 24 disclosure, Article 25 ban check, both, or neither; record the legal reason rather than relying on a product label alone.

Sources for this answer

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR)

Binding ESPR source for the definitions of destruction and unsold consumer product, the Article 24 disclosure trigger, and the enterprise-size carve-outs.

European Commission ESPR overview

Commission overview supporting the public-facing summary that ESPR requires large and eventually medium-sized companies to disclose discarded unsold consumer products on their websites.

Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC on enterprise size

Official source for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise staff and financial ceilings and for autonomous, partner, and linked-enterprise calculations.

Section 2

Record the Article 24 disclosure fields

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 now supplies the prescribed format. It applies from 2 March 2027 to products discarded in each financial year beginning with the first full financial year after that date, and the disclosure is due within 12 months after that financial year ends. This timing does not cancel the earlier Article 24 duty to disclose the first full financial year during which ESPR was in force.

The format identifies the legal entity, identifier type, standalone or consolidated disclosure, financial-year dates, product category and description, number and weight, whether packaging is included, reason, waste-treatment percentages, and prevention measures. Use two-digit CN codes by default and the four-digit codes listed in Annex II for the specified product groups.

Identity and period: legal entity name and identifier, EUID or other identifier type, standalone or consolidated status, listed subsidiaries or members, and financial-year start and end dates.
Product and quantity: CN code and description, units discarded, total weight in kilograms, whether packaging is included, and an indication where unit counts are estimated from accurately determined weight.
Destination: weight-based percentages for preparing for reuse, recycling, other recovery including energy recovery, disposal, total destruction, and unknown treatment. The percentages should reconcile for each row.
Prevention: measures taken in the preceding financial year and future measures directed at the categories destroyed for the same reasons.
Publication route: publish the format on an easily accessible website page, or link clearly to a sustainability or similar report that contains the required format.

Sources for this answer

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR)

Article 24 grounds the annual disclosure fields: number and weight by type or category, reasons, derogation where relevant, waste-hierarchy destination, and prevention measures.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 on discarded unsold consumer product disclosures

Binding source for the prescribed disclosure format, CN-code categorisation, website or report-link route, application from 2 March 2027, twelve-month publication deadline, retention, and authority verification.

Section 3

Link the disclosure row to the destruction-ban check

The disclosure duty covers discarded across product sectors, subject to operator-size rules. The destruction ban is narrower: from 19 July 2026 it covers the Annex VII CN entries for apparel and clothing accessories and footwear. Medium-sized enterprises enter the ban on 19 July 2030.

Regulation (EU) 2026/296 now defines ten derogation circumstances and the evidence for each. A derogation is not a general permission to discard stock. The operator must match the facts to a listed circumstance, retain the specified electronic documentation for five years after destruction, provide it within 30 days when requested, and give the waste-treatment operator a statement identifying the derogation.

Ban scope: Annex VII apparel and clothing accessories, Annex VII footwear, not Annex VII, or source gap for later amendments.
Application status: large enterprise from 19 July 2026; medium-sized enterprise from 19 July 2030; micro or small enterprise excluded unless a later anti-circumvention act applies.
Anti-circumvention check: record whether an out-of-scope operator received for destruction from an operator covered by the ban.
Derogation groups: dangerous or legally non-compliant product; substantiated intellectual-property restriction; technical inability to remove protected or inappropriate branding; damage or contamination that cannot be repaired or refurbished technically or cost-effectively; design or manufacturing defect that cannot be repaired technically; unsuccessful donation; no recipient after donation or preparation for reuse.
Donation branch: where none of the first seven circumstances applies, the act requires an offer to at least three suitable EU social-economy entities, directly or on an easily accessible website page, for at least eight weeks without acceptance.

Sources for this answer

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR)

Article 25 and Annex VII ground the destruction-ban relationship, current product categories, anti-circumvention rule, enterprise-size timing, and listed derogation reasons.

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 on destruction-ban derogations

Binding source for the ten derogation circumstances, donation conditions, evidence by circumstance, five-year retention, 30-day authority response, and the statement to the waste-treatment operator.

Section 4

Publication, evidence, and owner controls

Keep the public disclosure and the calculation file together. Regulation (EU) 2026/2 requires operators to retain delivery and reception evidence, including waste-treatment operator statements, for five years after disclosure. Competent authorities use a risk-based verification process and can compare disclosed quantities with delivery records and treatment with the receiving operator's activities.

Keep the derogation file separate but linked. Regulation (EU) 2026/296 prescribes different evidence for each circumstance, requires five-year electronic retention after destruction, and requires production within 30 days unless the authority already has the information under another act.

Publication owner: legal-entity identity, consolidation scope, public URL or report link, publication date, and archived copy.
Inventory owner: CN mapping, number and weight calculations, packaging treatment, source-system reconciliation, and estimate flags.
Waste and reverse-logistics owner: delivery and receipt statements, treatment-operation evidence, unknown-treatment follow-up, and weight-based percentage reconciliation.
Legal or compliance owner: enterprise-size assessment, Annex VII scope, derogation decision, evidence schedule, waste-operator statement, and 30-day authority-response process.
Retention owner: preserve Article 24 evidence for five years after disclosure and Article 25 derogation evidence for five years after destruction.

Sources for this answer

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR)

Article 24 grounds website visibility, annual publication, preceding-financial-year coverage, and the 30-day documentation response requirement.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 on discarded unsold consumer product disclosures

Binding source for five-year disclosure-evidence retention and the risk-based authority verification process.

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 on destruction-ban derogations

Binding source for derogation-specific documentation, electronic retention for five years after destruction, and production to authorities within 30 days.

Recommended next step

Build an ESPR unsold-goods evidence file

This tracker helps connect Article 24 publication fields, Article 25 ban checks, evidence owners, and source gaps before publishing discarded-product disclosures.

Research workflow

Open Research Copilot

Answer ESPR implementation questions with cited source material.

Explore next step

Talk to Sorena

Discuss ESPR implementation

Review unsold-goods scope, disclosure evidence, and source gaps with Sorena.

Explore next step

Section 5

Dates and boundaries that still need a separate decision

The 2026 acts set the EU-level format, verification process, and derogations. They do not decide enterprise size for a particular corporate group, the correct CN code for a borderline product, or whether specific facts satisfy a derogation. Record those as legal or classification decisions with supporting evidence.

Keep the two timing regimes visible. Article 24 required the first disclosure for the first full financial year during which ESPR was in force. Regulation (EU) 2026/2 applies its prescribed format from 2 March 2027 to products discarded in the first full financial year after that date and requires publication within 12 months after year-end.

Do not delay an earlier Article 24 disclosure because the prescribed 2026/2 format applies later; determine the current publication method for the operator's financial year.
Do not count ordinary donations as discarded products. Count a product when it is discarded as waste for preparing for reuse, recycling, other recovery, or disposal.
Do not extend the current Annex VII ban beyond its listed CN entries unless a later delegated act amends the annex.
Check national penalties, competent-authority procedures, and any additional record rules separately; this tracker covers the cited EU-level duties.

Sources for this answer

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR)

Article 24 requires implementing acts for disclosure details and format; Article 25 requires delegated acts for derogations and future Annex VII amendments.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 on discarded unsold consumer product disclosures

Binding source for the later application of the prescribed format and its statement that the Article 24 disclosure obligation already covers the first full financial year after ESPR entered into force.

Primary sources

References and citations

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 on destruction-ban derogations

eur-lex.europa.eu

Referenced sections

Binding source for derogation-specific documentation, electronic retention for five years after destruction, and production to authorities within 30 days.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 on discarded unsold consumer product disclosures

eur-lex.europa.eu

Referenced sections

Binding source for the later application of the prescribed format and its statement that the Article 24 disclosure obligation already covers the first full financial year after ESPR entered into force.

Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC on enterprise size

eur-lex.europa.eu

Referenced sections

Official source for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise staff and financial ceilings and for autonomous, partner, and linked-enterprise calculations.

European Commission ESPR overview

commission.europa.eu

Referenced sections

Commission overview supporting the public-facing summary that ESPR requires large and eventually medium-sized companies to disclose discarded unsold consumer products on their websites.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR)

eur-lex.europa.eu

Referenced sections

Article 24 requires implementing acts for disclosure details and format; Article 25 requires delegated acts for derogations and future Annex VII amendments.

Related guides