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The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a “digital dossier” that is about to change how companies collect, govern, and distribute product data. It was created within the framework of the new EU Regulation on Ecodesign (ESPR) and becomes mandatory sector by sector: for batteries through a dedicated regulation, for other products through delegated acts of the European Commission, with steel and textiles among the first on the calendar. In this article, you’ll discover in detail what it is, who it affects, and how to best prepare for it.
The Digital Product Passport is a structured collection of data associated with each individual product, with predefined purpose and access rights, linked to a unique identifier accessible through an electronic carrier (such as a QR code on packaging) that exposes a controlled set of data on origin, repairability, use, composition, and end of life. Designed to protect consumers and the environment, it counts among its European reference projects CIRPASS, an EU-funded initiative that ended in March 2024 and continued as CIRPASS-2, which laid the groundwork for harmonizing structure and data access rights throughout the life cycle.
For those who manage catalogs, product sheets, and product enrichment, the Digital Product Passport brings product data to a new level of quality, consistency, and traceability. A “good product sheet” is no longer enough: it will be necessary to create and maintain a consistent data model, govern versions and sources, track origin and transformations (materials, components, suppliers), and distribute portions of information to different audiences (from consumers to authorities or recyclers). In other words, the DPP makes strategic what is often perceived as “just” operational: data governance and integration between eCommerce systems, content management, and supply chain.
But DPP is not just online: the physical data carrier (e.g. QR code) applied to the product or packaging enables consultation in-store, at the service counter and after-sales. For retailers, this means managing returns, recalls and repairs with verifiable data on individual items, accessible to authorised staff and customers.
Three pillars are already clear:
Much of this information therefore already exists: product registries, bills of materials, manuals, compliance certificates. The real difference lies in centralizing, normalizing, and governing them to expose them with quality and control when necessary.
The Digital Product Passport is a framework provided by the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (EU Regulation 2024/1781): the European Commission will establish ecodesign and information requirements for product groups through delegated acts, and the DPP will be the tool to archive and share this data along the value chain. Delegated acts apply no earlier than 18 months after their entry into force, giving companies time to adapt.
One initial area is already regulated: with Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 on batteries and waste batteries, the battery passport will be mandatory from February 18, 2027 for electric vehicle batteries, light means of transport batteries, and industrial batteries above 2 kWh, accessible via QR code. Until that date, no DPP is yet in application.
For other sectors, the Commission has adopted, in April 2025, the Working Plan 2025-2030 which prioritizes final and intermediate products: manufacturing and metals (iron/steel, aluminum), furniture and mattresses, electronics, tires, and textiles/apparel. The plan covers five years, with a review planned for 2028, and sets these indicative dates for delegated acts: steel in 2026; tires, aluminum, and textiles in 2027; furniture in 2028; and mattresses in 2029. Electronics (ICT) falls instead under the plan’s horizontal measures, with timing indicatively from 2029.
September 2026 update. The picture has become more concrete. Since July 20, 2026, the European Digital Product Passport registry has been operational, where economic operators register the unique identifiers and registration data of passports. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 of July 14, 2026 also identifies the harmonized standards dedicated to DPPs. Sector-specific pieces are still to come: according to industry regulatory monitoring, at the end of August 2026 no ESPR delegated act had yet been adopted, with the one on steel expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, and according to updates on the battery passport, the implementing act on data access rights, planned for August 2026, is delayed, while the date of February 18, 2027 remains unchanged.
The textiles/apparel sector is among the first final products in the Working Plan table, with indicative adoption of the delegated act in 2027 (fourth quarter of 2027 according to the Commission); application will follow no earlier than 18 months later, so around 2029. Its potential to improve product durability, material use efficiency, and environmental impact makes it a priority. A study by the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) on textiles highlights the need for a data structure with differentiated access (public/restricted) along the supply chain, from fiber sourcing to recycling. The study by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) on DPP content for apparel likewise proposes visibility differentiated by role: the public, market surveillance authorities, economic operators, and those who repair or recycle.
For fashion eCommerce teams, the practical impact is threefold:
Note: footwear is not included in the first textile wave; the Commission has scheduled a dedicated study to evaluate its inclusion, to be completed by the end of 2027 (the study will also examine the modulation of extended producer responsibility fees). Footwear is already affected by another rule, however: since July 19, 2026, large companies must avoid destroying unsold clothing, accessories, and footwear, with transparency obligations on the volumes discarded.
The starting point is organizational. For each attribute, you must define who owns it (owner), where it comes from (supplier, quality department, management systems), how it is approved, and how frequently it is updated. Visibility classes (public, operators, authorities) and versions must be designed to track changes without losing the data history. Finally, you must prepare the link between the physical carrier (QR, RFID) and the authoritative online source using open standards (e.g., GS1 Digital Link) that turn the code into a link to data.
The Digital Product Passport does not reward the quantity of data, but the quality. It feeds on a variety of heterogeneous information: descriptive data, technical composition data, origin information, indications on durability/end of life, and descriptive digital assets (images, manuals, labels). These elements typically come from multiple and fragmented sources: from PIM systems for registries and attributes, ERP/PLM or directly from manufacturers/suppliers for composition, origin, and end of life, and from marketing for editorial and visual content. The challenge lies in harmonizing this variety of data into a structured format that ensures consistency and accessibility.
The THRON Platform serves as an accelerator of standardization and governance: a single source to manage reliable, contextualized, and governed data, publishing it selectively to different channels and stakeholders. The software, powered by artificial intelligence, collects and standardizes all information from various sources into a coherent model, maintaining the origin and responsibility of each data point. The information is then associated with related digital assets, making it available in a controlled manner for different markets, channels, and use cases.
The benefit is twofold: internal quality control (reliable, up-to-date, verifiable data, with modification history) and near real-time information to consumers and other stakeholders (from retailers to after-sales partners), without duplications or inconsistencies across countries, languages, and channels. The result for eCommerce, product, quality, sustainability, and legal teams is faster and smoother DPP readiness.
It is a digital profile of the individual product, opened by a QR/tag on the item or packaging that shows verifiable data throughout the life cycle (what it contains, how to use/repair it, how to recycle it). Example: I scan a jacket and see composition, washing instructions, possible repairs, and how to dispose of it at end of life.
The European Commission, through delegated acts provided by the ESPR for each product group. Example: for furniture, data on materials and disassembly might prevail; for tires on wear and recovery; for metals on recycled content and certifications.
No: it is a framework being progressively rolled out. At the moment no DPP is yet in application: the first obligation, for certain categories of batteries, takes effect on February 18, 2027. In other sectors, the obligation will follow the adoption of the respective delegated acts, according to the Working Plan 2025-2030, and will apply no earlier than 18 months after their entry into force.
They serve to uniquely identify products and link the physical code to authoritative online data (e.g., GS1 Digital Link). Without standards, the DPP cannot scale and remain interoperable between actors and countries.
An aluminum component manufacturer links origin certifications and recycled content to the passport: the customer sees public info; the technician, with operator profile, accesses specifications and diagrams; the authority verifies documents and compliance.
Because textiles/apparel is among the first final products in the Working Plan table, with indicative adoption of the delegated act in 2027 (application no earlier than 18 months later, according to the European Commission): this means fashion brands must organize data and processes in advance. The fields to prepare are composition and origin of materials, care/washing/repair instructions, compliance documents, end-of-life indications (collection/recycling). Variants and batches must be accounted for when relevant, and a public view must be distinguished from that for authorities/operators.
It is not a legal requirement. What matters is being able to demonstrate provenance, integrity, and data governance, regardless of the chosen technical infrastructure. The ESPR does not prescribe a single technology.
The QR code on the product refers to an authoritative source where the digital passport resides. With open standards like GS1 Digital Link, the code on the label becomes an intelligent URL that leads to the correct version (variant, batch) and shows only the correct fields. If your data is currently scattered, the most useful investment is to centralize, normalize, and make it accessible.