Is it too late if my certification is still running on 27 September 2026?

It is not too late, but it is not a free pass either.

The rules apply from 27 September 2026, including to goods manufactured, ordered or distributed before that date. There is no general transition or sell-off period.

In June 2026 the national authorities in the European Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) published a common understanding on old stock. It states that enforcement may be phased where genuine and specific transitional difficulties exist, and that authorities may take into account a trader’s role, size, available resources and concrete efforts to comply in good faith. As evidence of such efforts the paper expressly names records showing the steps taken and their timing, internal compliance policies, substantiation work and other compliance initiatives.

What that means for a certification in progress

A process that has been started, with a dated enquiry, laboratory testing commissioned and the conformity assessment under way, is exactly that kind of documented substantiation work. A company visibly pursuing the evidence stands in a different position from one that has done nothing.

What it does not mean

A certification in progress does not make an impermissible claim permissible and does not automatically protect against enforcement. The paper concerns old stock and genuine, specific transitional difficulties; it is neither a formal position of the network nor a binding interpretation of the directive, and it does not bind the courts. For packaging newly designed after the application date it does not apply at all.

A sensible order of work until then

Correct the claims online first: they come first in the authorities’ own list because they can be changed without lead time. Then promotional and sales materials, then future packaging and new orders. The free claim check assesses up to five claims and shows which of them are critical in the first place.

And there is the planned section 15b UWG

Three days before the cut-off date, on 24 September 2026, the German Bundestag passed a new section 15b UWG as part of the Designrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz. Under it, injunctive claims concerning goods placed on the market before 27 September 2026 may only be pursued in good faith and with regard to proportionality. The factors weighed are the severity of the infringement, the adjustment measures already taken, and the cost and environmental burden of removal. The provision is limited until 27 September 2028.

What counts is placing on the market, not the date of manufacture. Online presences and websites are not covered, nor is anything placed on the market after 27 September 2026.

As at 4 October 2026: the Bundestag has approved it, but the Bundesrat and publication in the Federal Law Gazette are still outstanding. The provision is therefore not yet in force. And even then it would not be a free pass for selling off stock, but a standard for weighing up the individual case.

For a certification already under way this is still better news than the CPC paper: the adjustment measures already taken are named there explicitly as a criterion, and a procedure that has begun, with a dated enquiry and a commissioned laboratory test, is exactly that.