Does the product passport also apply to second-hand clothing and returns?

What you must do concretely

What is expected of you

The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) regulates the digital product passport for products placed on the market. Article 1 of the Regulation describes the subject matter and scope: it concerns products placed on the market or put into service in the EU. For secondhand clothing and returns, that distinction — placing on the market for the first time versus giving a second life to something that was already there — is precisely where practical questions arise. The Regulation itself does not provide a written answer for every situation; what follows is a description of how the system works.

Determining whether a product already had a passport

Clothing placed on the European market for the first time falls under the passport obligation once it applies to that clothing segment. In practical terms, for a company of 10 to 100 employees, the question "has this item been placed on the market in the EU before" becomes a fixed step in procurement, especially for secondhand batches, vintage collections or clothing that comes in through an intermediary. Anyone importing clothing that has been worn outside the EU and is being sold here for the first time acts as the first market actor — a different position from a shop that resells already passported clothing.

Recognising the distinction between resale and new market introduction

For clothing that already has a passport because an earlier batch placed it on the market, the emphasis is on providing that existing passport, not on reassembling it. For a thrift shop, secondhand platform or resale department of a brand, this means that processes are arranged differently than for an importer placing a collection on the market for the first time. A company doing both — importing new collections and running its own secondhand line — would be well advised to separate these two flows in its administration, if only to be able to immediately show during an inspection which item fell into which category.

Managing returns without losing passport status

Returns are clothing that has already been placed on the market and comes back to the seller. They do not leave the supply chain permanently; they come back into stock, are resold, converted to outlet, or marked down. The passport that belonged to the item remains relevant in those cases — the product does not change identity because it has been returned. For a company with a returns process, this means that the link between item and passport (via the QR data carrier) must not be lost during sorting, repackaging or transfer to a second sales channel.

Taking into account the rules on unsold inventory

Articles 23 to 26 of the ESPR address the prevention of destruction of unsold consumer goods. This indirectly affects returns: some returns are not resold but disposed of, and this is precisely where this regulation comes in. For companies of this size, this means that the number of items destroyed and the reason for doing so may become part of reporting obligations. The precise scope and thresholds for this are described in the Regulation itself per article; what has already been worked out on this platform is described under may I still destroy unsold clothing and textile stock.

Where things go wrong in practice

Secondhand batches without proof of origin. An importer purchases a batch of secondhand clothing outside the EU and has no visibility on whether, and by whom, it has been previously placed on the European market. Without that information, it cannot be determined whether a passport already exists or whether the item is being introduced as new.

Returns that "lose" the passport. An item comes back, is entered into a different system (for example, a separate outlet or B-choice channel) and the link with the original QR data carrier is lost because a new internal SKU is created without transferring the existing passport link.

Mixing resale and regular sales in administration. A brand that runs both new collections and its own resale line, booking both together in the same inventory system, making it difficult to reconstruct during an inspection which item was first put on the market, when, and by whom.

Modifying the article during refurbishment. Clothing that is rewashed, repaired or fitted with new buttons before being resold as "revised" raises the question of whether it is still the same product or a new market introduction — a question that may be answered differently on a case-by-case basis.

Unclear responsibility regarding private label returns. With private label, the clothing is often sold under the buyer's brand, while the importer or manufacturer compiled the passport. When returns are processed via a third party (for example a fulfilment service provider), it is not always documented who monitors the link with the passport.

What you can record

• An internal procedure that sets out how to determine whether an incoming batch (second-hand, vintage, return from another batch) has already been placed on the EU market previously.
• A process description for the returns process stating how the link with the existing QR data carrier is maintained during repacking, repackaging or forwarding to outlet.
• An overview of which inventory flows (new, second-hand, return, refurbished) are separately identifiable in the inventory system, so that a distinction can be made quickly in response to an inspection authority's inquiry — see also what does an inspection authority ask for during an inspection of clothing and textiles via what does a supervisory authority request during an inspection on clothing and textiles.
• A record of quantities and destinations of unsold returns that are being disposed of, in anticipation of what articles 23 through 26 of the ESPR request on this matter.
• Agreements with fulfilment or logistics partners on who is responsible for maintaining the passport link during return processing, particularly relevant for private label structures.

Anyone who wants to think now about how these processes are set up while the final date for clothing has not yet been confirmed will find an overview of preparatory steps at what can I do now whilst the rules are not yet final.