Digital Product Passports in 3 Minutes

Within the next few years, selling certain products in the EU will depend on your ability to produce a Digital Product Passport.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) are a core part of the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and other product-specific regulations (e.g. the Detergents and Surfactants Regulation). With the objective of increasing product data transparency and enabling circularity, there will be direct implications for companies marketing products. Indirectly, these will extend upstream to manufacturers and importers.

What will be required?

While the detail will vary by product category, the direction is clear.

Manufacturers will need to provide reliable, structured information on:

• Materials and substances within products
• Environmental impact, such as carbon footprint
• Durability and repairability
• Compliance with regulatory restrictions
• End-of-life handling, including reuse, recycling and disposal

This information must be:

• Digitally accessible
• Consistent across markets
• Available to multiple stakeholders

And importantly, it must be kept up to date. This is not a one-off declaration; it is an ongoing obligation.

The shift this creates

Historically, product information has been fragmented across teams and systems, stored in documents and spreadsheets, and updated only when needed. DPPs change that dynamic.

Product data becomes visible beyond your organisation, subject to scrutiny, and expected to be consistent and current. In effect, it moves from internal reference material to externally relied-upon evidence.

Moving DPPs from theory to reality

The supply chain is expected to apply pressure first. Before regulators act, your customers will. Larger manufacturers and retailers will increasingly require DPP-compatible data from suppliers, along with confidence that products are compliant and defensible.

The practical question to ask

For most organisations, this comes down to a simple test: can we confidently explain what is in our product, and keep that answer up to date? If the answer depends on chasing multiple teams, interpreting documents or rebuilding information each time, then DPPs will be difficult to sustain.

A pragmatic way to respond

Waiting for complete regulatory clarity is understandable, but risky. An alternative is to start building capability now. Understand what product data you already have. Identify gaps and inconsistencies. Improve how that information is maintained. Engage suppliers earlier.

The goal is not perfection. It is to move from reactive, manual processes to reliable, maintainable product information.