A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is the digital, machine-readable record of a physical product: what it is made of, where it comes from, how to repair or recycle it, and whose hands it has passed through across its life. With Europe’s new eco-design regulation it stops being a nice idea and becomes a legal requirement in many categories. This guide explains what a DPP is, why it is arriving now, the data it carries, and how to start implementing it without building yet another data silo.
What is a Digital Product Passport?
A DPP is the digital identity of a physical object, reachable from a data carrier on the product itself — usually a QR code, an NFC tag or a GS1 Digital Link. Scanning it opens a record that can include material composition, origin and supply-chain events, technical documentation, repairability and spare-part information, recycled content and end-of-life instructions.
The key point: a DPP is not a marketing sheet. It is governed data — a defined set of attributes, in open formats — that different actors (manufacturers, resellers, repairers, recyclers, customs and consumers) can each read for their own purpose. The passport travels with the product across owners and borders.
Why now: the ESPR and the 2027 horizon
The trigger is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), in force since July 2024. The ESPR establishes the DPP as a central instrument and empowers the European Commission to set requirements category by category through delegated acts.
Textiles are expected to be among the first regulated categories, with obligations starting to apply around 2027. Batteries are ahead on their own track: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 requires a battery passport for certain batteries from February 2027. The message for anyone exporting to the European market is clear: the DPP is becoming a condition of market access, not an optional sustainability gesture.
What data does a DPP include?
The exact attributes are set per category, but a DPP usually spans four layers:
- Identity — a unique, resolvable identifier for the product or model (for example a GS1 GTIN plus a serial number, expressed as a GS1 Digital Link).
- Composition & sustainability — materials, substances of concern, recycled content and environmental footprint where required.
- Lifecycle events — manufacture, shipment, sale, repair, resale and recycling, recorded as verifiable events over time.
- Circularity & compliance — repair and disassembly instructions, spare-part availability, conformity documentation and end-of-life routing.
How a DPP works under the hood
A credible DPP rests on three technical pillars that keep it portable instead of trapping data in one vendor’s database:
- Standard identifiers. GS1 identifiers and GS1 Digital Link let a single QR code resolve to the right passport and carry both consumer-facing and machine-facing information.
- Events with GS1 EPCIS 2.0. EPCIS 2.0 is the open standard for describing supply-chain events — the what, where, when and why of each step — in JSON-LD. It is what turns a static label into a living history of custody and condition.
- Data carriers. QR, NFC and RFID connect the physical object with its digital record at any point in the chain.
Interoperability and portability: the Data Act
A passport that can only be read inside the system that created it betrays its purpose. Two forces push DPPs toward openness. The first is the ESPR itself, which requires DPP data to be based on open standards and accessible across the value chain. The second is the Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854), which strengthens data access and portability rights and limits lock-in.
The practical test of a good implementation is simple: can the passport be exported as a self-describing file — identifiers, events and schema together — and read by another actor without your platform in the loop? If not, it is a silo dressed as a passport.
The DPP by category
- Textiles — likely early under the ESPR; focus on composition, recycled content, durability and care/repair.
- Batteries & electronics — the battery passport under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 leads, with state-of-health, chemistry and due-diligence data.
- Jewellery and high-value goods — where provenance, authenticity and verified resale matter most, and where a passport underpins circular value such as certified second-hand and re-certification with lineage.
From compliance to circular advantage
Seen only as a regulatory burden, the DPP is a cost. Seen as data infrastructure, it becomes the foundation for new circular business models — verified resale, take-back, product-as-a-service and re-certification — because trustworthy product data is exactly what those models need.
This is the argument we develop in our peer-reviewed research: the DPP functions as a data-governance infrastructure whose circular potential is realised when combined with analytics and dynamic capabilities.
Bravo-Fabian, M. A., López-Pérez, S. D. J., & Vence, X. (2026). Artificial intelligence and digital product passports: Data governance infrastructures enabling circular business model innovation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 571, 148875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.148875
Where do you start?
You do not need to solve the whole regulation on day one. A sensible start:
- Pick one product line and define its identity with standard identifiers (GS1).
- Record its lifecycle events with EPCIS 2.0 — beginning with manufacture and sale.
- Make sure the passport can be exported and read independently (a self-describing file).
- Expand later to more attributes and categories as the delegated acts are published.
That foundation — identity, events and portability — is what later scales without redoing the work.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Digital Product Passport mandatory?
Not universally yet. The ESPR makes the DPP mandatory category by category through delegated acts. Textiles are expected among the first (around 2027) and the battery passport is required from February 2027 under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.
What is the difference between a DPP and a simple QR code?
The QR code is only the door. The DPP is the governed data behind it — identity, composition, lifecycle events and compliance — in open standards so many actors can read it.
What standards underpin a DPP?
Serious implementations use GS1 identifiers and GS1 Digital Link for identity, and GS1 EPCIS 2.0 for chain events, aligned with the ESPR and the Data Act on openness and portability.
I export from Latin America to Europe — does it affect me?
Yes. The obligation is triggered by placing products on the EU market, so manufacturers and exporters outside Europe are caught. Getting ahead is a competitive advantage.
How much does it cost to implement a DPP?
It depends on scope. Starting with one product line on open standards is far cheaper than rebuilding everything under regulatory pressure. An initial diagnostic lets you size it realistically.
Take the first step
If your organisation must prepare for the DPP — or wants to turn traceability into circular advantage — we help you do it on open, portable standards, without getting locked into a vendor.
About the author. Marco A. Bravo-Fabian is a PhD candidate at the University of Santiago de Compostela and co-author of peer-reviewed research on digital product passports and circular economy published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. He writes about DPP, EU regulation (ESPR, Data Act) and circular economy for McBravos. LinkedIn.
Go deeper: How to implement a DPP · ESPR & textiles for exporters · Circular economy & traceability · DPP in jewellery · DPP training