do I need a product passport if I sell my own mattress to a consumer

What you concretely must do

What is expected of you

The question of whether the product passport applies when selling your own mattress to a private individual hinges on one distinction: is it a mattress being placed on the market as a new product, or is it a mattress that has already been sold previously and is now changing ownership again. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) is designed to impose requirements on products placed on the market — article 1 describes that scope. If you manufacture mattresses yourself or have them manufactured and sell them under your own name, you are in a different position than someone who is reselling a used mattress from stock or a showroom model.

If you are a manufacturer or brand owner yourself

A company with 10 to 100 employees that places mattresses on the market under its own brand — even if production is outsourced — is considered the party responsible for compiling the passport, once the obligation for mattresses actually comes into force. This applies to sales to a retail chain, but equally to direct sales to a private customer via your own webshop or showroom. The channel through which the mattress reaches the consumer does not change the question of whether a passport must accompany it. Which products exactly fall under the regulation is described on the page about which products in the mattress industry fall under the ESPR.

If you are a trader or store that purchases and resells mattresses

When someone purchases mattresses from a manufacturer and subsequently sells them to consumers, they are not placing the product on the market for the first time themselves — that step has already been taken by the manufacturer or importer. The passport that goes with it is in that case already supplied by the party that had the mattress made. The shop or specialist store ensures in practice that the QR data carrier stays with the product and that the consumer has access to it upon purchase.

If it concerns a mattress that has been sold before

A mattress that has already been in use at a private individual's home and is now being resold — for example via a second-hand channel, a showroom model that was used as a demo, or a mattress that has been returned and is being offered again — is a different matter. Article 1 of the ESPR is directed at products placed on the market; in the case of resale of an already sold product, that question is not necessarily the same as with a new item. This distinction is treated in more detail on the page about product passport and the sale of used mattresses.

If it is a product of own manufacture that comes directly to the customer's home

Smaller manufacturers — a local mattress maker who works to order, for example — are subject to the same basic rules as larger manufacturers when they place products on the market. The question of whether an exception exists for smaller businesses is taken up again on the page does the product passport also apply to small businesses. What is stated there is relevant for anyone who makes mattresses themselves and sells directly to consumers, regardless of company size.

Where things go wrong in practice

Confusion between "own brand" and "own sales". A shop that has mattresses made under its own label by an external factory sometimes thinks that the factory is responsible for the passport because it physically produces the mattress. But whoever carries the brand and places the product on the market is the party on whom responsibility in practice is placed — not automatically the party that assembles the mattress.

Showroom models that are sold as "new". A mattress that has been in the showroom for six months and is then sold at a discount is often regarded by sellers as an ordinary new product. Whether that also applies to the question of whether a passport must accompany it is not self-evident — that is precisely the borderline case that deserves attention.

Unclear situations with mattresses that are made to order one by one. Some businesses think that made-to-order work falls outside the scheme because each item is different. Nothing in the sources suggests that production to order as such constitutes an exception.

Toppers and covers that are sold separately. A mattress that is supplied with a passport, but where the topper or cover is sold separately, raises the question of whether those accessories also need their own passport. That subject is dealt with separately on the page about mattress covers and toppers as a separate product.

Forgetting that a box spring consists of multiple components. When selling a complete bed including a box spring, it is sometimes assumed that one passport for the whole is sufficient, whereas the structure of a mattress and base raises a different question. See about this box springs and the question of one or multiple passports.

What you can record

• An overview of your own sales channels (web shop, showroom, resellers) with per channel who actually places the product on the market first.
• Agreements with suppliers or subcontractors about who compiles and supplies the passport, recorded in the purchase contract or a separate annex.
• A record of showroom models and demo items, with the date on which they were first offered to the public.
• An internal agreement on how returns and showroom stock that is resold is handled, including the question of whether the original data carrier still belongs with the product.
• Documentation of which data is already available about the materials and composition used in your own product, as a basis for a passport as soon as that is needed — an overview of which data belong in it can be found on the page which data are included in the passport of mattresses.

For the broader question of when this obligation concretely comes into force, and which step in it still needs to be taken, is the page on when the product passport becomes mandatory for mattresses the starting point.