Loudspeakers will need a magnet passport: what the EU vote means for audio manufacturers

The European Parliament has voted to bring loudspeakers into the Critical Raw Materials Act’s magnet labelling duty. Every loudspeaker sold in the EU is set to need a data carrier that opens a maintained magnet record. That makes it a Digital Product Passport in all but name, likely from late 2028.

On 20 October 2026, the European Parliament voted 470 to 83 to adopt its position on amendments to the Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252). That position keeps loudspeakers inside the Act’s permanent-magnet rules. The Council of the EU did the same in March. The final adopted text is still to be confirmed, but both co-legislators now agree loudspeakers belong in scope.

What happened in Parliament

The European Commission proposed in December 2025 to extend the magnet recyclability provisions to hard disk drives, transducers, loudspeakers, civil drones and motorised toys. The Council adopted its negotiating position on 4 March 2026, and Parliament has now voted on its own mandate.

The committee text Parliament voted on had not changed on any audio-related point since July. Nothing in the public record suggests the loudspeaker provisions were removed. Trilogue negotiations between Parliament, Council and Commission follow, probably over the winter. Both sides have kept loudspeakers in through every stage, so the risk of them dropping out is now low.

What loudspeaker producers will need to provide

Every loudspeaker placed on the EU market, passive or active, would carry a magnet label and a data carrier linked to a unique product identifier. That identifier opens a maintained data set covering:

• The economic operator responsible for the product

• Each magnet’s weight, position and chemistry

• Coatings, plus the steps needed to remove each magnet

The data must stay available for the product’s typical lifetime plus ten years.

Parliament’s exemptions cover products with no more than 3g of magnets in total, or ferrite-only magnets up to 20g. These thresholds will not apply to most professional audio and hi-fi, where a single woofer magnet can weigh hundreds of grams. The separate recycled-content disclosure counts only rare-earth magnets above 0.2 kg, so it will rarely apply to ferrite-based passive ranges.

When the magnet labelling duty applies

The vote does not set a start date. The duty begins two years after the Commission adopts an implementing act on the label format. Under the original Act, that act was due in November 2025. It has not yet been published.

• Amending regulation agreed and in force: 2027 (TAZAAR estimate)

• Commission label-format act: overdue, no date set

• Duty applies: two years after the label-format act, so late 2028 at the earliest

Why this is a Digital Product Passport in all but name

A data carrier, a unique identifier and a maintained online record make up the core of a Digital Product Passport. For passive loudspeakers, this is by some distance the nearest passport-shaped obligation. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) route for audio products is not scheduled before 2030.

Parliament’s “digital label” option means a single QR code can carry the magnet label, the magnet data and any further product information behind it. The Council’s position also allows Digital Product Passports to be used to meet the magnet information obligations.

TAZAAR’s reading: a product that already resolves a unique identifier to a hosted record can meet this duty by extending its data, without building a new system.

The second vote: authorised representatives

In a separate vote, Parliament kept mid-sized producers inside the requirement to appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility in each EU country they sell into. This is unrelated to passports. However, it removes a relief the Commission had offered and adds to the compliance workload for mid-sized audio brands selling across Europe.

What audio manufacturers can do now

• Record magnet weight, position, chemistry, coatings and removal steps for each current loudspeaker model.

• Decide on item-level identification and the data carrier you will use.

• Plan one QR code that serves the magnet label, the magnet record and your wider product data.

• Check your authorised representative arrangements for each EU market you sell into.

TAZAAR’s AssetID platform links each product to a unique identifier and a maintained digital record that travels with it through its working life. To discuss how your loudspeaker range can meet the magnet duty and future DPP requirements together, contact us at hello@tazaar.io.