EU Circular Economy Act (CEA)
Not proposed yet: the Commission says the Act will come later in 2026
What the Circular Economy Act is
The Circular Economy Act is a planned legislative package. The Commission's 2026 work programme put the proposal in the third quarter of 2026, which ended without one; in September 2026 the Environment Commissioner said she would present the Act later this year. The public consultation closed in November 2025. It complements the ESPR rather than duplicating it.
The division is clean: the ESPR creates the data, through Digital Product Passports. The CEA creates the market conditions under which that data becomes economically useful. The Commission frames it as industrial competitiveness policy under the Clean Industrial Deal, not only as environmental regulation.
What does the Circular Economy Act mean for your digital product passport?
The Circular Economy Act creates no new passport obligation; that comes from the ESPR. What it does is make passport data pay: eco-modulated EPR fees, green public procurement and customs checks on recycled content all need proof. For manufacturers of textiles or construction materials, verified data means lower fees and access to public contracts.
DigitalProductPassport by WIARA keeps that evidence as structured fields per product rather than in PDFs, and every publish is saved as a new version. The legislative procedure takes years, so the details will change. Open a demo passport or check whether your product needs one.
The measures that change the economics of secondary materials
What the package contains
The numbers behind it
The investment gap
EUR 82 billion a year: construction EUR 18B, textiles EUR 5B, vehicles and batteries EUR 10B, electronics EUR 5B.
Where the EU stands
The EU circularity rate was 12.2% in 2024 against a target of 24% by 2030 — a doubling in six years.
Three legislative pillars
Amendments to the Waste Framework Directive and the Landfill Directive; reform of the WEEE Directive; and horizontal measures — end-of-waste harmonisation, EPR governance and fiscal instruments.
Publish this passport with DigitalProductPassport by WIARA
The Commission has not proposed the Circular Economy Act yet. What is already clear is that its reporting leans on product-level data, which is exactly what a passport is for.
DigitalProductPassport by WIARA is a cloud platform built by WIARA, a software company. You enter the product data once; the platform publishes a passport page with a permanent QR code and a GS1 Digital Link URL, in all 24 official EU languages, keeping public, professional and authority fields apart. ESPR and CPR templates come ready made.
The free plan covers 3 passports in total. What the platform does is set out on the product page, and the plans and their limits are on pricing.
The Circular Economy Act and the Digital Product Passport
Frequently asked questions
When the Commission publishes the proposal. It was planned for the third quarter of 2026 and was still unpublished on 5 October 2026; the Environment Commissioner has said it will come later this year. Parliament and Council then negotiate it under the ordinary legislative procedure, so the distance between proposal and applicable rules is years, not months.
Because the CEA turns your data into money. Eco-modulated fees, green procurement and customs verification of recycled content all require proof. A company with verified data pays less and reaches more market.
Complementary. The Commission document states the measures will boost transparency "supported by Digital Product Passports". The ESPR produces the data; the CEA builds the market that rewards it.
Related solutions
Solutions
DPP for Manufacturers
Manufacturers create and maintain DPP, prove compliance and sustainability, earn trust and improve their processes.
DPP for Textiles
DPP provides traceability from fibre to recycling, proves brands' sustainability, and inspires consumer confidence.
DPP for Construction Products
DPP ensures transparency for the composition and sustainability of construction materials, facilitating proof of origin and compliance with standards.
