Digital Product Passport
A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured, machine-readable record that follows a product through its lifecycle, from manufacturing to recycling, giving customers, businesses and authorities standardised access to its sustainability, durability and material data. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) establishes it as the mechanism through which EU product information requirements are made available.
A passport carries no obligations on its own beyond what a delegated act under ESPR Article 4 sets for its product group: which data fields are required, who can access which parts, and by when. The European Commission's first working plan lists priority product groups, starting with textiles, batteries, furniture and construction products, with obligations phasing in as each delegated act is adopted.
Each passport is reachable through a physical data carrier on the product, typically a QR code or NFC tag, that resolves to a unique product identifier registered in the central EU digital product passport registry, live since 20 July 2026. The registry only records where to find the passport data; the data itself can be hosted by the manufacturer, an importer, or a third-party data space.
A manufacturer can issue and sign the data behind a passport as a verifiable credential from a European Business Wallet, so a customs authority, recycler or buyer can check who is vouching for the figures without contacting the manufacturer directly. That link between organisational identity and product data is what lets a passport travel across supply chains and still be trusted at the point where it is read.
The DPP under ESPR is distinct from the earlier, sector specific Battery Regulation passport, whose own digital passport obligation becomes mandatory for electric vehicle, light means of transport and industrial batteries above 2 kWh from 18 February 2027.
Does every product need a Digital Product Passport yet?
Not yet. ESPR only requires a passport once the European Commission adopts a delegated act for that product's group under Article 4, and those delegated acts are being phased in gradually, starting with the Commission's first working plan. Batteries follow a separate timeline under the Battery Regulation, mandatory from 18 February 2027.