What is a Digital Product Passport (DPP)?
A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured digital record of a product: what it is made of, where it was made, its environmental footprint, and how to repair and recycle it. You reach it by scanning a QR code or NFC tag on the product. The EU is making it mandatory product group by product group, under the ESPR.
It is data, not a document. The same passport is a page a person can read and a record software can read, and it can be updated after the product has been sold.
Key facts
Where things stand on 1 October 2026.
The law
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), creates the passport. A separate delegated act for each product group sets which data it must hold.
The EU registry
Operational since 20 July 2026. It stores each passport’s unique identifier, not the product data. Companies enrol with a qualified electronic seal.
The standards
Six harmonised standards, EN 18216–18223, published by CEN-CENELEC in May 2026 and cited in the Official Journal in July 2026. They cover identifiers, data carriers, storage and data exchange.
The first product groups
Iron and steel is the first ESPR product group; textiles, tyres, aluminium and furniture follow, and batteries have their own passport.
SCAN TO OPEN ON YOUR PHONE
INTERACTIVE DEMO
See a demo passport
A winter jacket with recycled polyester: an invented product from an invented company, on a working passport page. It shows the data a textile passport is expected to carry: composition, origin, carbon footprint, care, repair and recycling. Scan the QR code with your phone or open the link.What you see when you open a passport
Below is the demo jacket passport, with six numbered points:
- Product identity — name, brand, country of manufacture, model number and the date it was placed on the market.
- Material composition — every material with its share, country of origin, whether it is recycled, and its certification.
- Supply chain — the production stages and the countries they took place in. Facility names are not in the public view.
- Durability, care and repair — how many washes it is built for, care instructions, and how long spare parts are available.
- End of life — the recyclability rate and the take-back scheme.
- Language — the same passport in all 24 official EU languages.
Demo passport: the company, the product, the certificate numbers and every value are invented. Open the full demo.
How a Digital Product Passport works
Five parts, from the label on the product to the person reading the data. The numbers match the diagram.
- Identifier. Each product model gets a unique identifier. In practice it is usually the GTIN the manufacturer already uses for the barcode, written as a GS1 Digital Link key: 01/ followed by the 14-digit GTIN.
- Data carrier. The identifier is encoded in a carrier on the product: a QR code holding a GS1 Digital Link address, or an NFC tag. Scanning it opens the passport.
- Passport data. Structured fields — materials, substances, footprint, durability and repair, end of life, certificates — stored as data, not as a PDF. Each publish creates a new version, and earlier versions are archived.
- EU registry. The passport’s identifier is registered in the central EU registry run by the European Commission, operational since 20 July 2026. The registry holds identifiers, not product data, and gives customs and market surveillance authorities something to check against.
- Access levels. Every field is classified to an access level. Anyone who scans sees the public fields; restricted fields are meant for authorised parties only.
The rules for identifiers and carriers come from the harmonised standards EN 18216–18223.
What the data looks like to software
Behind the page, the passport is also published as JSON-LD, the structured-data format search engines and other systems read. Here are some of the fields of the demo jacket passport, as published:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"name": "Winter puffer jacket «Alpina»",
"brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Rhodopa Outdoor" },
"sku": "RDP-ALP-2025-WJ",
"material": "60% recycled polyester, 25% synthetic down, 10% nylon, 3% elastane, 2% metal",
"countryOfOrigin": "BG",
"additionalProperty": [
{ "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "recyclabilityRate", "value": "85%" },
{ "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "recycledContent", "value": "65%" },
{ "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "carbonFootprint", "value": "28.4 kg CO₂e" },
{ "@type": "PropertyValue", "name": "dppUID", "value": "DPP-RDP-ALP-2025-WJ" }
]
}The values are invented; the format is standard Schema.org JSON-LD. Open the demo and view the page source to see the full record.
The demo uses an internal identifier; production passports use the GS1 Digital Link key.
What data goes in a passport, by sector
The ESPR sets the headings; the delegated act for each product group sets the actual fields. Only batteries have a final list today. For the other groups, the fields below are what the preparatory studies point to, and they can still change.
- Iron and steel — expected. The first ESPR product group, adoption indicatively in Q4 2026. The study behind it proposes the heat number as the identifier, plus steel grade, producer and melt location, substances of concern, carbon footprint and recycled content. Demo: reinforcing steel · DPP for steel and iron
- Textiles — expected. Delegated act expected in 2027. Fibre composition, origin, substances of concern, durability, care and repair, recycled content and end of life. Demo: winter jacket · DPP for textiles
- Furniture — expected. Delegated act expected in 2028. No official field list exists yet; materials, repairability, spare parts and recyclability are the likely core. Demo: sofa · DPP for furniture
- Construction products — a separate track under the Construction Products Regulation (EU) 2024/3110. The requirement to declare global warming potential (GWP) has been in the regulation since 8 January 2026, but for each product family it starts to apply only with that family's updated harmonised standard; the passport follows product family by product family, built around the declaration of performance and conformity. Demo: clay block · DPP for construction materials
- Batteries — confirmed. The Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 makes the passport mandatory from 18 February 2027 for light means of transport (LMT) batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh, and EV batteries. Chemistry and critical raw materials, carbon footprint, recycled content and state of health. Demo: e-bike battery · DPP for batteries
Tyres, aluminium and electronics have demos too, on the demo passports page.
Model, batch and item passports
A passport can describe a whole product model, one production batch, or a single item. The delegated act for each product group decides which level is required, and most companies end up using more than one.
Three examples, from the simplest to the most detailed:
Model passport — the base level
One passport for the entire product model. Covers all units of that model. Example: you sew 1,000 black t-shirts of one model. One passport covers all 1,000. It says: 100% cotton, 180 g weight, size L, made in Portugal, with care and recycling instructions. When it's enough: when your products of one model are largely identical — mass production, standard SKUs. The delegated act for your product group sets the minimum level.
Batch passport — the middle level
One passport per production batch. Builds on the model with the specifics of that particular batch. Example: 500 of the t-shirts use cotton from Turkey (March 2026 batch) and 500 use cotton from Uzbekistan (April batch). Two extra passports on top of the model. They state where the cotton in the specific batch came from, when it was dyed, by which sub-contractor, what the carbon footprint is. When it's needed: when your batches differ — different material suppliers, different production dates, different certificates. Buyers and regulators then see exactly what's in the batch they hold in their hand.
Item passport — the most detailed level
One passport for each individual product. Builds on the model or batch with its own serial number and history. Example: a boutique designer dress from an independent fashion house — hand-embroidered, one-of-a-kind, a specific piece of fabric. For such a product there is a separate passport for that one dress with its serial number. After sale, information can be added — when it was worn for a special occasion, how it was cared for, when it was resold second-hand. The whole history of that one dress. When it's needed: for unique, boutique or hand-made products; for expensive and long-lasting goods (furniture, electronics); products for reuse; or when regulation requires traceability of the individual item.
How the levels stack
- Model — one passport for every unit of the model. Identifier: the GTIN (01/…).
- Batch — adds what is specific to one production run, on top of the model. Identifier: GTIN plus batch number (01/…/10/…).
- Item — adds one unit’s serial number and history, on top of the model or batch. Identifier: GTIN plus serial number (01/…/21/…).
Start where your products actually differ. Identical units: model. Different suppliers or production runs that matter to the buyer: batch. Unique or high-value pieces, or rules that ask for it, as they do for batteries: item. A batch or item passport is added on top of the model passport, so a QR code already printed at model level stays valid.
Who creates a passport, and who checks it
Who creates it. The company that places the product on the EU market is responsible for its passport, normally the manufacturer. A service provider can host and publish the passport, but the responsibility stays with the company. What this means in practice for manufacturers and for importers.
Who checks compliance. There is no EU-level passport inspector. Each Member State designates its own market surveillance authorities under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, with a national single liaison office speaking for them; the Commission’s list files ecodesign under “Eco-design and energy labelling”. For products made outside the EU, the authorities deal with the EU importer, who must make sure a passport exists before placing the product on the market (ESPR Article 29), or with an authorised representative (Article 28).
What you enrol in the registry with. A company verifies its identity in the EU DPP registry with a qualified electronic seal from a qualified trust service provider; a sole trader uses a qualified electronic signature (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, Article 4). The EU Trusted List shows the qualified providers in each country.
Funding. European Digital Innovation Hubs and EU regional development programmes can pay for the data work behind a passport: what is available and how to apply.
Guidance in your language. National editions of this guide: Albania and Kosovo, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Official sources. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR); Regulation (EU) 2019/1020; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778; national market surveillance authorities; EU Trusted List; European Commission: Digital Product Passport.
Last verified on 1 October 2026.
When it applies to you
Dates differ by product group, and most are still indicative:
- Batteries — mandatory from 18 February 2027, under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.
- Iron and steel — delegated act indicatively Q4 2026; obligations start after a transition period, so not before 2028.
- Textiles, tyres and aluminium — delegated acts expected in 2027.
- Furniture — delegated act expected in 2028.
- Construction products — under the CPR, product family by product family.
The full list by product, with sources, is on the DPP deadlines page. The deadline calculator gives the date for your own product, and the two-minute check tells you whether it needs a passport at all.
Options
Three ways to produce a passport
All three can produce a passport that meets the rules. They differ in cost, time and who keeps it up to date.01
Build it in-house
Full control over the data and the design. You also carry everything else: the standards, the GS1 Digital Link resolver, 24 languages, hosting, the back-up copy and every new delegated act. Fits companies with their own development team and many product lines.02
Extend your PIM or ERP
The product data is already there, which is the hard part. Most PIM and ERP systems do not publish a passport page, a resolver or access levels on their own, so you add a module or a connector. Fits companies whose master data is already clean.03
Use a DPP platform
The fastest start: templates per product group, hosting and languages come with it. You depend on the provider, so check how you get your data out, what happens to published passports after the contract ends, and whether there is an API. Fits most SMEs.The platform behind this guide: DigitalProductPassport by WIARA
This guide is written by WIARA, the software company behind DigitalProductPassport.
It publishes model, batch and item passports with a GS1 Digital Link QR code and a JSON-LD record, in all 24 official EU languages. The free plan covers 3 passports in total. See what the digital product passport software does, and the plans and prices.
Weighing your options? Read DPP provider or your own software and how to choose a DPP solution. What a passport costs is covered separately.
DPP basics
Questions about Digital Product Passports
No. The QR code is only the carrier: it holds a web address. The passport is the structured data that address opens, readable by people and by software. A label is printed once; a passport can be corrected and versioned after the product is sold.
Every field is classified to an access level. Anyone who scans sees the public fields, such as materials, care and recycling. Restricted fields, such as detailed supplier data or test reports, are meant only for parties with a legitimate interest. The delegated act for each product group says which field belongs where.
For the period the delegated act sets for that product group. It must stay available even if the company that created it becomes insolvent or stops trading (ESPR Article 11(e)), which is why, once a delegated act applies, the ESPR also requires a back-up copy through a DPP service provider (Article 10(4)).
It does not have to. The ESPR is technology-neutral: the Commission names platforms, blockchains and federated data spaces as equally acceptable ways to provide passports. Most passports, ours included, are web pages with structured data behind a permanent address.
It depends on how many products you have, at which level, and how much of the data you already hold. The software is usually the smaller part; collecting data from suppliers is the larger one. Our cost guide breaks it down, and our own free plan covers 3 passports in total.
The regulation does not name GS1, but the identifier must be unique and persistent, and the GTIN already in your barcode is the usual way to meet that. If you have none, your national GS1 organisation issues them. Our platform builds every passport on a GTIN, using GS1 Digital Link.
Your Guide to DPP Implementation
Learn the steps for integrating digital product passports – from the factory to the customer, with ready-made solutions and expert support.
