Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 of 9 February 2026 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1781

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Outline, 6 provisions

art_1 art_2 art_3 art_4 art_5 art_6

art_1 #art_1

Article 1

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1)	‘social economy entity’ means a social economy entity as defined in Article 3(4i) of Directive 2008/98/EC;

(2)	‘cost-effective’ means the cost of repairing or refurbishing a product not outweighing the total cost of destruction of that product and of materials, manufacturing, packaging, transport, stocking and any other administrative or logistical expenses of replacing that same product.

art_2 #art_2

Article 2

Unsold consumer products listed in Annex VII to Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 may, provided that the documentation referred to in Article 3 can be presented, be destroyed under any of the following circumstances:

(a)	the product is a dangerous product within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4);

(b)	the product is unfit for purpose by reason that it is non-compliant with Union or national law, for reasons other than those referred to in point (a) and destruction is required by law or is the appropriate and proportionate corrective action;

(c)

it is found that the product infringes intellectual property rights by a final judicial decision, a decision resulting from an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, a notification by a right holder, competent authority or an entity authorised to act on behalf of a right holder or an internal investigation carried out by the economic operator, provided that the economic operator can duly substantiate the infringement;

(d)

the product subject to a valid and enforceable licence or similar contractual requirement protecting intellectual property rights, according to which the sale, distribution or any other form of transfer of the product after a specified period constitutes an infringement of those intellectual property rights, and that specified period has expired, provided that the economic operator can duly substantiate the infringement and can demonstrate that destruction is the appropriate and proportionate corrective action;

(e)	the product is unsuitable for preparing for reuse or remanufacturing because it is technically unfeasible either to remove or render permanently inaccessible labels, logos or recognisable product design or other characteristics that are:(i)protected by intellectual property rights; or(ii)considered inappropriate;
(i)	protected by intellectual property rights; or
(ii)	considered inappropriate;

(f)

the product can reasonably be considered unacceptable for consumer use due to damage, including physical damage, deterioration or contamination, including hygiene issues, whether it is caused by consumers or occurs during the handling of the product by the economic operators or other actors involved in the supply chain, transport, retail or storage, and repair and refurbishment are not technically feasible or cost-effective;

(g)	the product is unfit for the purpose for which it was intended due to design or manufacturing defects for which repair is not technically feasible;

(h)	only where none of the circumstances referred to in points (a) to (g) are applicable, the product was offered for donation either directly to at least three suitable social economy entities located within the Union or on an easily accessible page of the website of the economic operator, for a period of at least eight weeks, and the product has not been accepted for donation;

(i)	the product was received by a social economy entity located within the Union as a donation, but no recipient could be found for it;

(j)	the product was made available on the market after being prepared for reuse by a waste treatment operator, but no recipient could be found for it.

art_3 #art_3

Article 3

Economic operators shall, for a period of five years after an unsold consumer product subject to a derogation pursuant to Article 2 has been destroyed, keep, and, upon request, put at the disposal of the competent authorities, in electronic form, within 30 days of receipt of the request, with the exception of when the information is available to the competent national authority on the basis of another legal act, the following documentation:

(a)	for a dangerous product referred to in Article 2, point (a), either of the following:(i)a description of a health or safety concern that compromises compliance with the general safety requirement referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988, including an assessment of the safety of the product in accordance with Articles 6, 7 and 8 of that Regulation;(ii)a test report indicating the presence in a product of non-compliant chemicals and stating the applicable Union or national law;
(i)	a description of a health or safety concern that compromises compliance with the general safety requirement referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988, including an assessment of the safety of the product in accordance with Articles 6, 7 and 8 of that Regulation;
(ii)	a test report indicating the presence in a product of non-compliant chemicals and stating the applicable Union or national law;

(a)

for a dangerous product referred to in Article 2, point (a), either of the following:(i)a description of a health or safety concern that compromises compliance with the general safety requirement referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988, including an assessment of the safety of the product in accordance with Articles 6, 7 and 8 of that Regulation;(ii)a test report indicating the presence in a product of non-compliant chemicals and stating the applicable Union or national law;

(i)

a description of a health or safety concern that compromises compliance with the general safety requirement referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988, including an assessment of the safety of the product in accordance with Articles 6, 7 and 8 of that Regulation;

(ii)

a test report indicating the presence in a product of non-compliant chemicals and stating the applicable Union or national law;

(b)	for a product referred to in Article 2, point (b), a self-assessment statement that indicates the type of the non-compliance and the applicable Union or national law;

(c)	in the case referred to in Article 2, point (c), the final judicial decision, ADR decision or notification referred to in that point, or documentation of an internal investigation substantiating the infringement;

(d)	in the case referred to in Article 2, point (d), a licence, contract or agreement that has been concluded with the rightsholder and that explicitly specifies the restrictions on the distribution or other forms of transfer of the product after a specified period, accompanied by a justification that destruction is appropriate and proportionate;

(e)

in the case referred to in Article 2, point (e), an inspection report or supporting documentation demonstrating that technical options for preparing the product for reuse or remanufacturing have been assessed and found to be unfeasible, including, as appropriate, visual evidence, technical analysis or expert opinions substantiating the technical unfeasibility of removing or permanently rendering inaccessible labels, logos or recognisable characteristics that are protected by intellectual property rights or that are considered inappropriate;

(f)	in the case of a damaged product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or of a product unfit for purpose referred to in point (g) of that Article, either of the following documentation:(i)evidence that the product has been subject to quality assessment procedures including visual inspection and sorting that prioritises restocking and repairs, including a description of the quality assessment procedure, standardised remediation plans for specific types of damage and a description of specific cases in which repair and refurbishment are not possible for technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or for technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;(ii)an inspection record, in the form of a technical test, results from applicable practical evaluations or other expert judgements, that documents the type and severity of the damage identified for the compromised items or batches and the unfeasibility of corrective measures due to technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or due to technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;
(i)	evidence that the product has been subject to quality assessment procedures including visual inspection and sorting that prioritises restocking and repairs, including a description of the quality assessment procedure, standardised remediation plans for specific types of damage and a description of specific cases in which repair and refurbishment are not possible for technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or for technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;
(ii)	an inspection record, in the form of a technical test, results from applicable practical evaluations or other expert judgements, that documents the type and severity of the damage identified for the compromised items or batches and the unfeasibility of corrective measures due to technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or due to technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;

(f)

in the case of a damaged product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or of a product unfit for purpose referred to in point (g) of that Article, either of the following documentation:(i)evidence that the product has been subject to quality assessment procedures including visual inspection and sorting that prioritises restocking and repairs, including a description of the quality assessment procedure, standardised remediation plans for specific types of damage and a description of specific cases in which repair and refurbishment are not possible for technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or for technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;(ii)an inspection record, in the form of a technical test, results from applicable practical evaluations or other expert judgements, that documents the type and severity of the damage identified for the compromised items or batches and the unfeasibility of corrective measures due to technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or due to technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;

(i)

evidence that the product has been subject to quality assessment procedures including visual inspection and sorting that prioritises restocking and repairs, including a description of the quality assessment procedure, standardised remediation plans for specific types of damage and a description of specific cases in which repair and refurbishment are not possible for technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or for technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;

(ii)

an inspection record, in the form of a technical test, results from applicable practical evaluations or other expert judgements, that documents the type and severity of the damage identified for the compromised items or batches and the unfeasibility of corrective measures due to technical or cost-effectiveness considerations for a product referred to in Article 2, point (f), or due to technical considerations for a product referred to in point (g) of that Article;

(g)	in the case referred to in Article 2, point (h), evidence of the offer for donation;

(h)	in the case referred to in Article 2, point (i), a declaration attesting that the product was received as a donation and that no recipient could be found for it;

(i)	in the case referred to in Article 2, point (j), documentation demonstrating that the product was received from a waste treatment operator and that no recipient could be found for it.

art_4 #art_4

Article 4

Economic operators shall provide a statement on the applicable derogation to the waste treatment operator to which they deliver unsold consumer products covered by one of the derogations set out in Article 2.

art_5 #art_5

Article 5

The Commission shall review this Regulation, taking into account new products added to Annex VII to Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 or the appropriateness of the derogations, in particular considering whether new scientific data or the evolution of the state of the art of technology justify a derogation for the application of high quality recycling technologies as the option with the least negative environmental impacts. The Commission shall present the results of this review, including, if appropriate, a draft revision proposal, every time a new product is added to Annex VII of that Regulation and, in any case, no later than 12 May 2031.

art_6 #art_6

Article 6

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 19 July 2026.

Provenance and validity dates, identifier, hash

as of	2026-02-09 → this publisher state was selected
publisher state	publisher version 2026-02-09 → latest held publisher-asserted
type	REG_DEL Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 of 9 February 2026 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council by setting out derogations from the prohibition of destruction of unsold consumer products
language	en
published	2026-02-09
lex_id	eu-eurlex:32026r0296:2026-02-09--201f8b5bb0f1e5467f8405dfb6301a0b42f842231c48adb3d3e2a6b7b51d2f6d
record sha256	d78f8dd3363635772b0cf8057cd95fc950ad5cc4cfbfd37bba22a79fb9148bdc

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