Regulations Opportunities and challenges of the eco-design regulation

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On July 18, the European eco-design regulation came into force. It is one of the numerous legislations regulating the economy in terms of sustainability. At HSBI, experts from business law in the InCamS@BI project deal with the regulations, directives, and laws. They are aware of the opportunities and challenges for companies in implementation.

Circular Economy Act, Packaging Act, Supply Chain Directive, Green Claims Directive, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Taxonomy Regulation and now the EU Eco-design Regulation—laws regarding sustainability are changing at a breathtaking pace at both national and international levels. At Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (HSBI) in the project InCamS@BI (Innovation Campus for Sustainable Solutions), Kristin Maoro and Micha Steiner, business law consultants in the project, and Prof. Dr. Christiane Nitschke are very intensively dealing with the current and upcoming regulations.

EU eco-design regulation: Sustainable product design

The new EU Eco-design Regulation provides the legal framework for more sustainable product design. The goal: a circular economy, in which products are accordingly more durable, resource-saving, and better repairable and recyclable.

Micha Steiner has spent months dealing with the regulation as part of his now published master's thesis and knows the biggest challenges for companies: "The main issue is the uncertainty about what the specific requirements for the products will be. At the moment, the regulation only provides the framework, while the actual measures are subsequently worked out by the European Commission for each product group and adopted in delegated legal acts." This makes it difficult for companies to prepare early and make adjustments in product design, which is often associated with long lead times.

Minimum recycling content expected

"The plastics industry, with which we collaborate in the InCamS@BI project, also faces some difficulties in this regard. Above all, the availability of high-quality recyclate is a hurdle," says Steiner. It can be assumed that a minimum recyclate content will be set for many products, which will require significantly larger quantities of recyclate, which is already in short supply on the market. "Therefore, I believe that the mass production of high-quality recyclates will be one of the core issues in the coming years," is Steiner's assessment.

The European Green Deal: a challenge

Steiner sums it up: "The EU has set big goals in recent years with the European Green Deal and creates a framework through laws such as the Eco-design Regulation that must be adhered to. Many of the goals targeted are still a major challenge from today's perspective, which can only be achieved through technical progress and clever ideas. The legal requirements create a certain urgency and can ensure that more is invested in the development of sustainable solutions."

Prof. Dr. Christiane Nitschke, who has been teaching business law at the HSBI for 20 years and can also draw on many active years in industry as in-house counsel, is more critical: "We always have to keep the feasibility for the industry in mind. In my estimation, this is not considered enough in the Green Deal legislation, especially regarding our typical German medium-sized businesses. We have many family businesses that are considered large companies in the EU, and thus are subject to the same rules as large corporations."

How companies can participate in the legislation

In her master's thesis completed in 2024, Kristin Maoro dealt with the density of regulation in the EU using sustainability as an example, taking into account the possibilities for companies to influence the design of legislation.

What sounds cumbersome has a simple background: sustainability laws are not created in a vacuum, but mostly in complex legislative processes. But how can these be influenced?

Maoro summarizes the biggest levers: "Companies can participate in debates about the creation of new laws, for example through associations or in discussions with politicians. And they should do so: because only by getting involved in the process with practical examples as early as possible can practical results be achieved."

For this, there is, among other things, the portal of the EU Commission 'Your opinion counts' and public online consultations.

The biggest hurdles are the bureaucratic effort, the excessive number of regulations, and the lack of practicality of the laws. Companies are overwhelmed with the excessive regulation. In my opinion, they should be written in such a way that they can be followed more easily.

Kristin Maoro

Another barrier, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises: financial resources. Global corporations often have their own offices in Brussels—smaller companies have fewer resources. That's why it is important for them to organize themselves in associations and to bring in their interests this way.

About the transfer project InCamS@BI

The transfer project InCamS@BI at the HSBI aims to develop innovative solutions for the more sustainable use of plastics. In this interdisciplinary project, ideas are generated and solutions developed to optimize plastics and their handling for a circular economy. These innovations can be promoted through various incentives—one of the drivers of innovation is law. The experts understand the importance of business law in implementing the regulations: An innovation can only be successfully implemented if it meets the legal framework conditions. "That's why it's so important to consider them from the start—and not only at the end when everything has already been developed," explains Christiane Nitschke.