Article 2 · Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296

Contents

Article 2Derogations from the prohibition of destruction of unsold consumer products#

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^note;

(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;

(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.