The compliance calendar

A brand shipping across Europe now answers to a dozen texts at once, and the dates in them get quoted wrong. A common claim is that textiles need a passport in 2027, which reads the year of the act as the year of the obligation: textile act expected 2027, obligation from 2029. The 3 euro duty is often quoted as charged per parcel, when it is charged per customs declaration line. Each date is marked law where the text is published, expected where the Commission has announced it, and reported where it comes from public reporting rather than a published text.

Rules already applying

• 1 June 2026. CountEmissionsEU, Regulation (EU) 2026/1030, entered into force. Its main obligations start on 2 December 2030. Law.
• 19 June 2026. The online withdrawal function under Directive (EU) 2023/2673: a clearly labelled, two-step way to cancel, reachable without logging in. Reported.
• 1 July 2026. The 3 euro customs duty on consignments up to 150 euros entering the EU from outside, charged per customs declaration line and running until 1 July 2028. Law.
• 19 July 2026. The ban on destroying unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear, for large companies, under ESPR. Reported.
• 20 July 2026. The EU Digital Product Passport Registry went live; its rulebook, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, applies from 6 August 2026. Law.
• 12 August 2026. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2025/40, applies directly, with no national transposition and no grace period. Law.
• 1 September 2026, France. The textile malus under Law 2026-602 of 8 July 2026: an eco-contribution per product of 0.25 to 12 euros in 2026, rising to 2 to 20 euros from 2030, capped at half the pre-tax price. Reported.
• 20 September 2026. The customs reform, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, entered into force. Most of it applies later; see below. Law.
• 27 September 2026. The rules on environmental claims under Directive (EU) 2024/825, and the harmonised notice on the legal guarantee. Reported.

Dates ahead

• 1 November 2026. Customs product identifiers on every B2C distance-sale import, whatever the value, under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1200. Law.
• 1 November 2026. The 2 euro Union handling fee on goods sold at a distance and imported from outside the EU, charged per customs declaration line, with VAT due on it. Expected, pending publication of the delegated act.
• 30 December 2026. The deforestation regulation, EUDR, for large and medium operators. Reported.
• 18 February 2027. The battery passport, under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, for EV, light means of transport and industrial batteries above 2 kWh. This is the first hard DPP deadline and it is written in the regulation itself. Law.
• 21 September 2027. Most of the new Customs Code, including the importer for distance sales. Reported.
• Third to fourth quarter of 2027. Adoption of the ESPR delegated act for textiles. Expected. The obligation follows a transition of at least eighteen months, so the working assumption is: textile act expected 2027, obligation from 2029.
• 14 December 2027. The Forced Labour Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/3015. Reported.
• End of 2027. The Commission's study on footwear under the ecodesign regulation is due. Footwear sits outside the 2025 to 2030 working plan, so no footwear passport date exists. Expected.

From 2028

• 2028. Launch of ETS2, emissions trading for buildings and road transport. Reported.
• 17 April 2028. Producer responsibility schemes for textile, textile-related and footwear products in every member state, under Directive (EU) 2025/1892. Law.
• 1 July 2028. End of the 3 euro duty, and the Customs Data Hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce. Reported.
• 12 August 2028, at the earliest. Harmonised packaging labelling under PPWR. Reported.
• 2029. The textile passport obligation. Expected.
• July 2030. The destruction ban extends to medium companies. Reported.
• 2 December 2030. The main CountEmissionsEU obligations. Law.

The textile passport is a 2029 problem with 2026 homework in it: identifiers, suppliers, packaging.

The markings

Law means we have read the published text and the date is in it. Expected means the Commission has listed the date, in its guidance or its working plan, but the act is not yet published, which is the case for the handling fee and the textile act. Reported means the date is in public reporting but not in the Official Journal; reported dates are listed so you can plan ahead, and should not be relied on for contractual commitments. When a reported date turns into law we move it up and change the marking.

Two dates in circulation are not on this calendar. The first is 2027 as a textile passport deadline, which is the expected year of the act, not of the obligation: textile act expected 2027, obligation from 2029. The second is a day for the delegated act on DPP service providers: the Commission page lists the second or third quarter of 2027, as reported, and no day has been published for it.