Plain-language articles on the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) and the ESPR: what is mandatory, from when, and what data you need — so you are ready in time.
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We ran the BatteryPass-Ready conformance suite against our own live system: 11 of 11 green. We cover what the 11 tests actually check, why a green validator proves nothing on its own (it stays green even when only half of the official data model is there), seven pitfalls that derail a rollout, and seven questions worth asking your provider.
The battery passport becomes mandatory on 18 February 2027, and that date does not move. So we looked at what actually works today: we measured the publicly served interface of the EU product passport registry and compared it with what the law has not yet decided. The gap between the two is wider than you would expect.
Two weeks ago we wrote that the packaging label rules are slipping, and that this is good news for manufacturers: the regulation's "whichever is the latest" formula means the obligation slips with them. Ten days ago another deadline passed — the battery passport one. There, no such clause exists: 18 February 2027 stands even if the rules are not ready.
Two things were supposed to happen on 12 August 2026. One did: the packaging regulation became applicable. The other did not: the Commission failed to adopt the implementing acts that define what the packaging label looks like. As a result the 2028 labelling deadline is already dead — and every day of delay now works in your favour.
The EU packaging regulation applies from 12 August 2026, and many manufacturers fear that two QR codes will now end up on the same box: one for the product, one for the packaging. Article 12 of the regulation expressly forbids this — and it also says which one stays.
Everyone pictures a shopper at the shelf scanning a QR code. In reality the passport's most important readers arrive years later — the repairer, the recycler, customs and market surveillance — while the shopper sees the thinnest layer. Understanding this changes which fields you fill in first.
The QR code on your product stays there for years — but that does not mean you are tied to the provider behind it forever. We show how to switch DPP providers without reprinting a single label, and what to demand so you never get locked in.
Before you can register a product passport you must become a verified economic operator — with a qualified electronic signature (eIDAS). We walk you through the whole process step by step, including the real gotchas: identity match, serialNumber and PAdES.
On 20 July 2026 the EU's central Digital Product Passport Registry went live ((EU) 2026/1778). We explain what this federated system is, what it stores, how you register with eIDAS, what is mandatory now — and what only from 2027.
A digital product passport's QR code is more than compliance: every scan is market research data. See where, when and what customers view — and turn it into a business advantage, legally.
When you sell online, the digital product passport must be accessible before the purchase decision. We show you how to comply channel by channel — and how to turn it into a conversion advantage.
A Digital Product Passport can be issued at model, batch or item level — the difference between 50 passports and 50,000. We show who prescribes the level, and why item level isn't 1,000× the work.
Software, data collection, measurement, maintenance — an itemised, number-backed DPP cost calculation for SMEs: what the first year costs, what the ongoing costs are, and where you can save.
DPP obligations don't depend on company size — they depend on your role in the supply chain and your product category. With a decision tree, comparison tables and the real exemptions, we help you see clearly in 5 minutes.
If you import from a manufacturer based outside the EU, the ESPR shifts the manufacturer's obligations — including the Digital Product Passport — onto you. Here's what to verify, what to write into your supplier contracts, and how to escape the email ping-pong.
In 2024, EU authorities seized 112 million counterfeit products worth €3.8 billion. Here's how the Digital Product Passport — unique IDs, QR codes and scan analytics — becomes your cheapest brand protection.
We dissect a finished digital product passport field by field: which data is mandatory, where it comes from, who fills it in — and why the consumer, the B2B partner and the inspector each see something different on the very same page.
Most of a product passport's data originates with your suppliers, not with you. A five-step playbook to gather it in a structured, timely way.
The DPP isn't just a compliance burden — it builds trust, premium pricing and circular revenue. Why treating it as a business asset wins, not as a checkbox.
The ESPR mandates transparency — but it doesn't make everything public. Here's how the product passport reconciles trade secrets with layered access.
Fines, product withdrawal, procurement bans — what awaits a company without a Digital Product Passport? The real consequences.
Eight concrete steps manufacturers and brands can take today to start preparing for the DPP — from product inventory to QR-code labelling.
QR codes and GS1 Digital Link tie a physical product to its digital passport: data carrier types, access levels, and placement in practice.
Under EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542, the battery passport becomes mandatory from 18 February 2027 for every EV, LMT and industrial battery above 2 kWh.
From fibre composition to the supply chain: which data fields you need to gather for a textile DPP, and by when — plus the destruction-ban deadlines.
ESPR has no single switch-on date: the Digital Product Passport becomes mandatory category by category, via delegated acts, typically between 2028 and 2031.
A plain-language guide to the Digital Product Passport: what it is, why the EU introduces it, what data it must hold, and when it becomes mandatory by category.