do I need a product passport if I sell used mattresses
No clear rule for second-hand mattresses
For the sale of used mattresses, there is no established rule that specifies whether a digital product passport must be included. The ESPR was written with a view to products being placed on the market for the first time: a manufacturer or importer who sells a mattress for the first time in the EU. What must happen precisely for mattresses, and whether there is an exemption for mattresses that have already been sold before, will be laid down in a delegated act that does not yet exist for mattresses. Until that act is in place, there is simply no concrete obligation to follow — not for new mattresses, and certainly not for second-hand mattresses.
For whom this is or is not relevant
The ESPR applies to products placed on the market or put into service, and the obligations in the regulation are primarily directed at manufacturers, importers and authorised representatives — the parties that place a product on the EU market for the first time (Article 1 and Article 9 of the ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). A shop that takes over a used mattress from a private individual or company and resells it is not a manufacturer or importer of that product. The regulation does contain provisions on distributors and dealers, which include checking whether a product has the required marking and documentation before it is offered (Articles 30 and 31 of the ESPR). Those provisions are written with a view to the regular supply chain for new products, not specifically for the second-hand market. For the private individual who sells their own mattress at home, the situation is even clearer: that question is dealt with separately on the page about private sales between consumers, and the conclusion there is comparable to what applies here.
Where this subject does explicitly relate, is the question of which mattresses will fall under the new rules once they are in place. That definition — which products, which categories, which exemptions — is described on the page about which products in the mattress industry fall under the ESPR. As long as that definition is not established for mattresses, nothing can be said about an exemption for second-hand versions within it.
What is established now and what is not
There is no date on which a product passport for mattresses becomes mandatory, and therefore there is no date on which any rule for second-hand mattresses comes into force. What is established is the process: the ESPR is the framework regulation, and the concrete obligations for a product group — including any exemptions for used products — come only with a delegated act per product group. For mattresses, that act does not yet exist. How that process works precisely and why the content of the rules only becomes known with that act is explained on the page about what a delegated act is and why it determines what must happen. Until that act is published, there is no obligation for mattresses — new or second-hand — to have a digital product passport. As soon as more is known about the expected date, that will be posted on the page about when the product passport becomes mandatory for mattresses.
What this means in practice
For a company that sells used mattresses — for example a recycling company, a second-hand dealer or a mattress specialist shop that resells trade-in mattresses — there is currently nothing to arrange regarding the digital product passport. There is no obligation to create, check or provide a passport when selling a used mattress. Anyone who still wants to know where developments stand would be best advised first to check whether their own company acts as a manufacturer or importer of new mattresses — because that role ultimately determines who in the future will be responsible for a passport, not the question of whether a mattress is new or used. Companies that are uncertain whether their situation falls under this, will find a general test on the page about whether the digital product passport applies to their mattresses. Once the delegated act for mattresses is published, that is the moment to check whether it contains a provision for mattresses that have already completed a first life cycle — including any transitional provisions for stock or existing products. Until then, no action is required on this specific point.
Where this is based on
The scope of the ESPR follows from Article 1, which describes which products and market actors the regulation is intended for. The obligation to provide a digital product passport is set out in Article 9, which indicates that requirements are to be developed per product group. The role of distributors and traders — and thus also of parties trading second-hand products — is described in Articles 30 and 31, which concern the duty to verify when offering products (all three Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, ESPR). None of these articles currently provides a specific rule for mattresses that have already undergone a first period of use; that specification must still come through the delegated act for the mattress product group.
What to do
Anyone selling used mattresses does not need to take action at this time regarding the digital product passport. It is, however, advisable to keep track of when the delegated act for mattresses is published, because that is when it will become clear whether, and for which mattresses exactly, a passport will become mandatory — and whether a distinction will be made between new and used.
Where this is based on
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 1 (subject matter and scope)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Article 9 (digital product passport)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), Articles 30 and 31 (obligations of distributors and traders)
The regulation itself is on EUR-Lex. We provide references per statement; you do not have to take our word for it.
What you concretely must do
What is expected of you
The ESPR is written for products placed on the market: a mattress being sold for the first time in the EU. A mattress that has been in use for years and moves from one consumer to another, or from a consumer to a second-hand shop, is a different case. The regulation focuses in Article 1 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Article 1) on placing on the market and putting into service of products within the scope of the delegated act still to come. For second-hand mattresses that were previously lawfully placed on the market, a new passport requirement does not therefore seem likely — but the precise delimitation will only be certain once that delegated act is available. What that document is and why it determines so much can be read on the page about what a delegated act is and why it determines what you must do.
As a trader in second-hand mattresses
A company that purchases and resells used mattresses — for example a circular economy business, an outlet for returned mattresses, or a bedding specialist shop that refurbishes traded-in mattresses — operates in a different role than the manufacturer or importer that originally had to have the passport drawn up. Articles 30 and 31 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Articles 30 and 31) describe obligations for distributors and traders, in particular regarding verifying whether a product has already been provided with the required marking and documentation, and not placing on the market products known not to meet the requirements. For a company with 10 to 100 employees trading in second-hand mattresses, this means in particular: checking whether it is a product that was originally subject to a passport requirement, and if so, whether that passport still exists and is accessible.
As a manufacturer selling refurbished mattresses as "new"
Some companies take mattresses from returned stock, replace the cover or core, and bring the result to market as a renewed product. That is a different situation from pure resale: if the result is factually a new product being reintroduced to the market, the question becomes relevant whether this also creates a new passport obligation. Article 9 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Article 9) describes the digital product passport as a link to a product being placed on the market — the point of reference is therefore the action of (re)placing on the market, not the age of the materials. A company carrying out this kind of renovation does well to establish this distinction early in the process, rather than discovering later that its own activity must be classified as production.
As a specialist retailer facilitating trade-in and private sales
Bed specialist retailers offering a trade-in system often find themselves between two worlds: the new mattress that the customer buys will soon be subject to the passport obligation, the traded-in mattress that is resold to another private party usually will not. That distinction is also relevant to the question of whether a product passport is needed when selling one's own mattress to a private individual — a question that is increasingly asked with the rise of secondhand platforms and marketplaces, and whose answer differs from that in the case of business sales.
Where things go wrong in practice
A few situations come up regularly in practice.
A second-hand shop or secondhand platform assumes that because mattresses "will soon all need a passport", its own range of secondhand mattresses must also have such a passport. This leads to unnecessary investment in systems and data collection for products for which that obligation probably does not apply.
Conversely, it happens that a company renovating mattresses and bringing them to market as "renovated" or "renewed" sees this as comparable to secondhand resale, when it is practically speaking a reintroduction to the market. The difference between "reselling as is" and "placing on the market after processing" is then not sufficiently clearly defined within the company, with the result that the sales department and the quality department operate on different assumptions.
A third situation: a specialist retailer purchases a batch of mattresses from a manufacturer that brought the mattresses to market before any possible obligation, and automatically assumes that a passport will therefore never be needed — not even for new stock purchased after the effective date. The time of purchase and the time of sale are being conflated here.
A fourth: companies that dispose of hotel mattresses after a number of years and resell them secondhand to another segment treat that transaction as comparable to consumer sales, without checking whether the original supply to the hotel was already subject to a passport obligation — relevant for those who also supply the hotel industry, as described on the page about mattresses for the hotel industry.
A fifth: a secondhand mattress trader expects to find clarity in general texts on the ESPR, while the answer to their specific question follows with certainty only from the delegated act for mattresses specifically — an act that has not yet been published.
What you can record
- An overview of which mattresses in the company's own assortment are being newly placed on the market and which are being resold secondhand or traded in, including the date of first sale where known.
- An internal definition of what the company understands by "renovation" versus "resale as is", so that procurement, sales and quality departments operate on the same assumptions.
- Agreements with suppliers or manufacturers about transferring an existing product passport (or the QR data carrier) when purchasing returned or traded-in mattresses, so that the information is not lost.
- One file per mattress line with purchase date, origin and any documentation already belonging to the product, even if no passport obligation applies to it — this facilitates later assessment.
- Reference to the broader application of the regulation in case of doubt about a specific product, for example via the page about which products in the mattress industry fall under the ESPR and the page that describes what will be included in the mattress passport, as soon as that becomes relevant for part of the assortment.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the legislation this platform concerns. We do not know your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI based on the sources above, reviewed by a human on 2026-09-05. Is something not correct? Let us know — corrections are given priority.