What are electronic instructions for use (eIFU)?

Electronic instructions for use (eIFU) are a product's manual, safety warnings and operating instructions delivered digitally instead of on paper. A customer scans a QR code or visits a web address on the product or packaging and opens the instructions on a phone or computer.

For brands, eIFU cut printing and translation costs and make instructions easy to update. For customers, the manual is always findable, searchable and available in their language. EU law allows eIFU product group by product group, and always with conditions.

Where EU law allows electronic instructions

There is no single EU rule for eIFU yet. Each product law sets its own:

• Machinery: from 14 January 2027, the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 allows instructions in digital format. The manufacturer must mark on the product, packaging or an accompanying document how to access them, let users print, download and save them, and keep them online during the product's expected lifetime and for at least 10 years after it is placed on the market.
• Medical devices: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2226 sets when eIFU can replace paper for devices intended for professional users.
• Consumer products in general: the General Product Safety Regulation requires instructions and safety information in a language consumers in the Member State can easily understand. Where a product law does not allow digital-only instructions, paper is still needed.

On 9 June 2026, the Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the Omnibus IV digitalisation package. It allows digital instructions and declarations of conformity across 20 product laws, and keeps safety information on paper where there is a risk of serious harm to consumers. It awaits formal adoption.

Conditions that usually apply

Where eIFU are allowed, the rules tend to follow the same pattern:

1. Clear access. The product, packaging or accompanying document tells users where to find the instructions, often through a data carrier such as a QR code.
2. Matched to the model. The digital instructions clearly describe the product model they belong to.
3. Printable and saveable. Users can download and print them, and reach them during a breakdown.
4. Long-term availability. The instructions stay online for a set period, for machinery at least 10 years.
5. Paper on request. Users can ask for a paper copy free of charge. Under the Machinery Regulation, a request made at purchase must be met within one month.
6. Paper safety information. For machinery used by consumers, the essential safety information still comes on paper.

eIFU and the Digital Product Passport

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation brings instructions into the Digital Product Passport. Annex III, point (f) lists "user manuals, instructions, warnings or safety information, as required by other Union law" among the information a passport can contain. Once a product group's delegated act requires it, the same QR code that opens the passport can open the instructions.

Digital instructions also support the right to repair. Repair guides, exploded views and spare part lists are much easier to keep current online than in a printed booklet.

How to prepare

• Check each product law that applies to your products, and whether it allows digital instructions today, from a future date, or not at all.
• Keep a paper process for customers who ask for a printed copy, and for safety information that must stay on paper.
• Version your manuals per model, and keep older versions online for products already sold.
• Use one stable QR code per model or item that will keep working for the full period, rather than a link to a page that may move.
• Cover every language of the Member States where you sell.