Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, read with Annex VII, restricts the destruction of unsold consumer products in listed categories. Apparel, clothing accessories and footwear are on that list. This rule does not wait for the textile ecodesign act. It has its own calendar in the ESPR.
Large enterprises have been covered since 19 July 2026. Medium-sized enterprises are covered from 19 July 2030. Micro and small enterprises are outside the ban. Size follows the Union definitions of enterprise categories, not a brand’s own description of itself, and group structure can change the answer.
Here, destruction means discarding unsold goods as waste when they could have stayed on the market or been handled as the regulation requires. The precise operations, and the exceptions, are in the regulation and in the Commission acts that follow it. On 9 February 2026 the Commission adopted a delegated act on derogations and an implementing act on disclosure. A company that thinks a case falls under a derogation needs that delegated act, not a summary. A related but separate duty, in Article 24, requires disclosure of discarded unsold products. Disclosure and the ban are not the same rule.
The duty sits with the enterprise that would destroy the goods, which is not always the factory that made them. A retailer, a brand and a producer can each hold unsold stock. Goods already sold to a consumer are not unsold stock. Returns and cancelled orders need a careful reading of the text before they are treated as covered or exempt.
National authorities enforce the ban. Companies need their own records of what was unsold, what was donated, reused, recycled or discarded, and which derogation, if any, was used. The official text is CELEX 32024R1781.