Without fanfare, the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 received Royal Assent on July 21, 2025, and became law in the UK.   

As IEEP UK wrote in September last year, this seemingly dry and technical piece of legislation could have a profound impact on the environment. Every stage of a product’s life – from design and manufacturing, through how it is used (for example its energy efficiency), to repair, dismantling, recycling, and disposal – leaves an environmental footprint. The Act contains provisions which would allow the Government to raise the quality standards of products sold in the UK in order to reduce or mitigate its impact on the environment.

As IEEP UK outlined in a policy briefing earlier this year, the European Union has already begun making changes post-Brexit to improve a range of product standards, including through a revised Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. They see the raising of product standards as part of the solution to meeting long-term climate and environmental policy goals. By requiring products to be more energy-efficient and to use more sustainable, easily recyclable materials, for example, the goal of reaching challenging objectives such as Net Zero will be just that bit easier. 

We urge the Government to look closely at developments in the EU – particularly around the ‘Ecodesign’ framework – and strongly consider how product standards could be raised in concert and coordination with the EU to improve the quality of products that consumers can enjoy, while also reducing their impact on the environment. 

Photo by Marcin Nowak on Unsplash