Transitioning towards a more circular economy is an important tool for achieving sustainability goals. It is high on the agenda in the EU where a new, overarching regulatory framework has just been introduced, the Eco Design for Sustainable Product Regulation, REGULATION (EU) 2024/1781 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 June 2024, which entered into force on July 18, 2024. The aim of the regulation is to set new eco design requirements for products in order to improve durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability and to make products more energy efficient. As concrete measures, the regulation also introduces the concept of ‘the digital passport’ which will contain product information for buyers and users, and a ban on the destruction of unused textiles and footwear. Similar rules are found in newly introduced sector specific regulatory frameworks such as the Battery Regulation, REGULATION (EU) 2023/1542 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 12 July 2023. The goal is to make the new requirements applicable to all products that are put on the market in the EU. This means that the regulatory frameworks will have implications also for companies outside of the EU, which export products into the EU, either directly or via supply chains.
Whereas the new regulatory initiatives can be seen as primarily public law instruments, they will have consequences also in private law.
The workshop focuses on this aspect. It includes the following themes: How will the regulatory frameworks on circular design effect contracting in the supply chain? Can transparency of product information be reconciled with the idea of the ‘bargain’? How to make conformity assessments of multipurpose products? What does ‘a right to repair’ entail and does it conflict with IP principles? Will the ban on the destruction of certain products have liability implications? In which ways will the regulatory frameworks have extraterritorial effects on companies in the supply chain outside of the EU?
The workshop is organised by EUI Visiting Professor, Vibe Ulfbeck and is part of the project CirCus (Circular Supply Chains), based in CEPRI at the Law Faculty at the University of Copenhagen.