Digital Product Passport: When Products Become Data

A Digital Product Passport connects a physical product's identity to reliable information available across its value chain. For businesses, this means making data currently distributed across ERP, PLM, technical sheets, suppliers, certificates and spreadsheets consistent.

The framework comes from Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products, in force since 18 July 2024. The regulation defines the general infrastructure, while actual obligations and required data depend on delegated acts for individual product groups. There is no single immediate deadline for every product.

A digital identity for the product.

A DPP may include technical performance, materials, substances of concern, repairability, maintenance, recycling, compliance and economic operators. Availability will depend on access rights: consumers, repairers, authorities and supply-chain partners do not necessarily see the same data.

Where the applicable measure requires it, the passport is linked to a unique identifier through a data carrier on the product, packaging or documentation. Granularity may apply to a model, batch or individual unit.

The QR code is the door, not the room.

Printing a code that opens a webpage is easy. The real challenge is ensuring that it leads to structured, current, verifiable and portable data. The framework requires open and interoperable standards, machine-readable formats and no mandatory dependence on one supplier.

1. Identity: how the product, model, batch or unit is recognised.
2. Data: where each item originates and who owns its quality and updates.
3. Exchange: how internal systems and external actors read consistent information.
4. Access: which information is public, restricted or available to authorities.

Data quality comes before the platform.

Many organisations already possess much of the necessary information, but not in a usable form. The same component may have different codes in procurement, production and service; a certificate may exist as an isolated PDF with no stable link to its batch and supplier.

• product families and bills of materials;
• existing identifiers and their granularity;
• materials, components, origin and suppliers;
• certifications, tests and compliance documents;
• use, maintenance, repair and end-of-life instructions;
• authoritative system and owner for each field;
• change frequency and validation rule;
• missing data required from the supply chain.

A roadmap starting with one pilot product.

1. Scope. Select a representative but manageable family.
2. Information model. Define vocabulary, identifiers, relationships, access and ownership.
3. Gap analysis. Compare applicable requirements with available data.
4. Integration. Connect authoritative sources and reduce manual duplication.
5. Prototype. Generate and read the passport through a real workflow.
6. Supply chain. Formalise formats, controls and supplier responsibilities.
7. Scale. Extend only after measuring cost, quality and maintenance.

From requirement to industrial asset.

A well-designed DPP can support service and spare parts, document component origin, improve recalls and non-conformity management and create more transparent information experiences. This is where industry and engineering, automation and digital platforms must work as one system.