Most people picture the digital product passport (DPP) like this: a QR code goes on the product, and that's it. But when you sell online, there's a little-known twist: under the logic of the regulation, the buyer must be able to access the passport data before the purchase decision — which means it's not just the box that's affected, but your webshop's product page too. The good news: this is far more of an opportunity than a burden. A well-placed passport link on the product page is a trust signal, content and conversion support all in one — in this article we show you exactly what the regulation expects, and how to solve it elegantly.
What exactly does the regulation say?
The ESPR — the EU's Ecodesign Regulation 2024/1781, the legal foundation of the DPP obligation (if you're new to it, start here: what is a DPP?) — starts from the premise that in a physical store, the buyer can pick up the product and scan the data carrier on it. Online, that's impossible: the product sits in a warehouse while the buyer sits in front of a screen. The regulation provides a specific solution for this situation.
Article 10(3) of the ESPR states that the economic operator placing the product on the market must provide a digital copy of the data carrier or a web link to the product passport to dealers and online marketplaces — on request, free of charge and within five working days — explicitly so that they can make it available to potential customers where they cannot physically access the product. In plain terms: your webshop and your marketplace listing must be able to show the passport before the buyer reaches for the cart.
The Batteries Regulation (EU 2023/1542) also accounts for online sales: under Article 74(4), the information intended for end-users must also be provided when selling via online platforms — and the battery passport becomes mandatory on 18 February 2027 for EV batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and LMT batteries (details: battery passport).
A fair note for the sake of accuracy: the ESPR is a framework regulation — the category-specific details (in exactly what form, in which part of the product page, under what label passport access must be displayed) will be set out in delegated acts, which, according to the working plan adopted in April 2025, will arrive category by category, in stages. The direction, however, is already clear and enshrined in the regulation's text: in online sales, the passport must not arrive later than the purchase decision. If you build your webshop around this, the delegated act will be nothing more than fine-tuning.
Physical store vs. webshop: why is the situation different?
It's worth seeing the difference clearly, because everything you need to do follows from it:
- In a physical store, the data carrier on the product (or its packaging or accompanying documentation) — typically a QR code — fulfils the access requirement by itself. The buyer takes it off the shelf, scans it, done.
- Online, the QR code on the product is invisible to the buyer at the moment of purchase. That's why the product page (or the listing data) needs a digital access point: a link, an embedded QR image or a built-in passport section.
An important nuance: this doesn't mean you have to copy the entire passport content into the product page. What you must provide is access — the cleanest solution is a stable, public passport URL that the product page links to. For what technically lives behind such a passport, see our anatomy of a product passport article.
Channel by channel: how to comply in practice
Most manufacturers and brands don't sell through a single channel. Here's what the picture looks like per channel:
| Sales channel | How do you comply? | Who is responsible for displaying it? |
|---|---|---|
| Your own webshop | Passport link or embedded section on the product page, in a clearly visible spot (e.g. under the product description or a "Sustainability" tab) | You — this is the simplest case, with full control |
| Marketplace (Amazon, eMAG, Kaufland Global…) | Providing the passport URL in the listing data; marketplaces are expected to open dedicated fields for it | Shared: you supply the data, the platform displays it — but data accuracy is yours |
| Resellers' webshops | Providing the digital copy of the data carrier / passport URL to the partner (under the ESPR: on request, within 5 working days, free of charge) | The reseller displays it, you deliver the link — best sent along with the product master data |
| B2B catalogue, quotes | Passport link on catalogue items and in quotes — increasingly an expectation among procurement teams | You — and it's a competitive edge when it's there without being asked |
| Physical store | The QR code on the product/packaging is sufficient | The manufacturer/importer takes care of the data carrier |
The table shows the key point: a single stable passport URL can serve every channel. The same link goes into your own webshop, the marketplace listing and the reseller's product master data — and the QR code on the box points to it too. If the URL is built to the GS1 Digital Link standard (GTIN + optionally lot and serial number), machine systems can interpret it as well — that's what our QR and GS1 Digital Link guide is about.
The opportunity side: the passport link as conversion support
Here comes the part that makes this worth treating not as a box to tick, but as a tool. A passport accessible on the product page delivers three things that marketing alone struggles to provide:
- Credibility. Claims like "sustainable", "durable" or "repairable" on a product page read as marketing copy. The same data in a structured, version-controlled passport — with material composition, repairability information, origin data — becomes verifiable fact. Against greenwashing suspicion, the best defence is data.
- Content. The passport is ready-made, detailed product information — fewer "what material is it made of?" customer-service questions, fewer returns caused by wrong expectations.
- Demonstrable demand. According to a joint 2023 analysis by McKinsey and NielsenIQ, products communicating ESG claims achieved an average cumulative sales growth of 28% over five years, versus 20% for those making no such claims; and PwC's 2024 consumer survey of more than 20,000 respondents found that shoppers are willing to pay a premium of nearly 10% on average for sustainably produced products. The exact figures vary by market — but the direction is clear: credible product information available before the purchase decision helps sales, it doesn't hinder them.
And there's one more quiet advantage: whoever publishes the passport link before their competitors turns the obligation into a competitive edge — their product page simply says more than the one next door.
Technical implementation: three levels, from a simple link to API sync
You don't need to start with the most sophisticated solution. The implementation scales up nicely:
| Level | What does it mean? | Development effort | Who is it for? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Simple link | A "View digital product passport" link on the product page, pointing to the passport's public URL | Practically zero — one field in the product master data, one line in the template | The first step for everyone; in many cases it's all you need |
| 2. Embedded section | The passport's key data (material, origin, repairability) appear on the product page, with a "full passport" link | Small — extending the webshop template, transferring the data manually or semi-automatically | Anyone for whom sustainability is a sales argument and who wants to keep the buyer on the product page |
| 3. API sync | Product data lives in one place, the DPP system; the webshop pulls the data via API, and a webhook signals every change | One-off integration development — zero manual work afterwards | Larger assortments, multiple channels, frequently changing data |
The third level is our secret favourite, because it reverses the usual data chaos: instead of three slowly diverging product-data versions living in the webshop, the ERP and an Excel file, there is a single source of truth — the passport — and every channel feeds from it. When a material composition or a compliance document is updated, it isn't missing from seven places the next day — it's there everywhere.
What to watch out for: four points where solutions tend to slip
- A stable, durable URL. You publish the passport link in your webshop, print it on the box, hand it to resellers — if it changes six months later, all of that collapses. Choose a system where the URL stays unchanged throughout the product's entire life cycle and the data updates behind it, not the address. (Under the ESPR, the passport must remain accessible for at least the product's expected lifetime.)
- Multilingual support. If you sell across the EU — and online, that's the default — your German buyer wants to see the passport in German, your French buyer in French. A passport available only in Hungarian or only in English fails its purpose in practice.
- Mobile-first display. A significant share of passport views happens on phones — natural for QR scans, but a large proportion of webshop clickers are on mobile too. A tiny-print, PDF-like passport fails here.
- Measurability. Once the link is out there, know what happens to it: which product's passport is viewed, from where, by how many people. A webshop click is just as measurable an event as an in-store QR scan — and valuable market-research data. That's what our scan analytics article covers.
Frequently asked questions — in brief
"Do I have to copy the entire passport into the product page?" No. What you must provide is access — a clearly visible link or an embedded access point is the standard solution. The precise display details will be refined per category by the delegated acts.
"I sell on a marketplace — is it my job or the platform's?" Both: you must deliver the data (the passport URL), while the platform provides the display surface. The big marketplaces are building compliance fields anyway because of the EU's digital-services rules — your job is to make sure there's something to enter.
"What if my webshop is only a reseller?" Then you can request the digital copy of the data carrier or the passport link from the manufacturer/importer — under the ESPR, they must provide it free of charge and within a short deadline. It's worth building this into your supplier data requests now.
How does Veridyn help?
With Veridyn, you get exactly the stable, channel-independent passport infrastructure this article is about. Every passport receives a durable public URL that is also reachable via GS1 Digital Link paths (GTIN + lot + serial number), so the same address serves both the QR code on the box and your webshop's product page. The passport is displayed in all 24 EU languages with a mobile-first design — your German or French customer reads it in their own language. With the developer REST API and webhooks (API documentation), your webshop can sync directly from the passport database, and the scan analytics dashboard shows you which products' passports your customers view — webshop clicks included. See in the live demo how a passport would look on your own product page, take five minutes for the readiness test to see where you stand — or get started with the free plan and publish your first passport link this week.