Digital Product Passports

Yes. At least in the European Union market, they’re becoming mandatory:

• Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), DPPs will be required for many brands’ product categories starting in 2027.
• Initial focus includes batteries, textiles, electronics, furniture, and chemicals.
• A brand’s products that are sold in the European Union market must include a DPP to ensure environmental transparency, traceability, and regulatory compliance.

The Digital Product Passport is designed to make essential product information accessible throughout a product’s entire lifecycle. Its purpose is to support a more circular economy by giving manufacturers, businesses, and consumers clear, verified data about what a product is made of, how it was produced, and how it can be reused, repaired, or recycled.

By providing this information digitally and consistently across sectors, the Digital Product Passport helps to:

• Improve transparency across supply chains

• Enable better repair, reuse and recycling

• Support regulatory compliance, including new Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) requirements

• Reduce waste by keeping materials in use for longer

• Help businesses make smarter, more sustainable decisions

In short, the DPP exists to close the circularity gap by ensuring every product carries the information needed to unlock its full circular potential.

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulations implementing Digital Product Passports has many benefits, however, there are some challenges. These are:

• Messy data: Supply chains are fragmented, making clean, consistent data hard to collect.
• Old systems: Legacy platforms like ERP and PLM don’t play nice with new tech.
• Sensitive info: Brands worry about exposing proprietary details.
• High costs: For small brands, upgrades and training can be a big burden.
• Unclear rules: European Union regulations are still evolving, so targets keep shifting, including those tied to environmental performance and reporting.

Digital Product Passports are developed by a mix of players across the market:

• Industry groups like Catena-X and the Global Battery Alliance
• Tech providers offering blockchain and data platforms
• Manufacturers and brands integrating DPPs into their products
• Standards bodies and researchers shaping the rules and frameworks

It’s a collaborative effort to make product data smarter, more environmental, transparent, and future ready for brands and consumers alike.

A practical example of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) can be seen in the textile industry. Imagine a jacket sold by a brand in the European Union from 2027: its label contains a QR code that links to a secure digital record. By scanning the code, anyone – from consumers to recyclers – can instantly access key information such as:

• Fibre composition (e.g., 70% recycled polyester, 30% organic cotton)
• Manufacturing details (where and how it was produced)
• Environmental footprint (carbon and water usage)
• Care and repair instructions (washing guidance, availability of spare parts like zips or buttons)
• End-of-life guidance (how the garment can be dismantled and recycled).

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) isn’t something you “buy” off the shelf. It’s a data system that manufacturers, brands or supply-chain partners must create and maintain to meet upcoming EU requirements (starting with textiles, electronics and batteries from 2026–2027).

Here’s where you actually get or build a DPP:

1. Through your compliance or circularity service provider

Organisations like Reconomy, EPR schemes, and compliance partners can help you design, structure and manage DPP data across the product life cycle. This is especially useful if you handle large product ranges or complex supply chains.

2. Via specialised DPP software platforms

Several emerging platforms offer DPP creation tools, QR code generation, data management and interoperability features aligned with the Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). These integrate with PLM, ERP or LCA tools to assemble required datasets.

3. By developing an internal system

Some businesses choose to build their own DPP database, generating QR codes and managing access rules, as long as the system meets EU requirements for:

• machine-readable, interoperable data
• secure, role-based access
• lifecycle and sustainability information
• QR code or digital identifier accessibility

4. Through your industry’s Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO)

In regulated sectors (electronics, batteries, packaging, textiles), PROs may provide the data frameworks or integrations needed to fulfil DPP obligations.

As sustainability moves from aspiration to regulation, transparency is now a business imperative. Starting in 2027, EU legislation will require Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for high-impact sectors like textiles, electronics, and batteries—making structured product data essential for market access.

DPPs empower businesses and consumers to:

• Extend product lifecycles through reuse and repair
• Improve recycling and end-of-life outcomes
• Make informed, responsible purchasing decisions

But fragmented data, limited supply chain visibility, and inconsistent formats make compliance complex.
Reconomy simplifies the challenge. We transform scattered information into scalable, compliant DPP solutions,future-proofing your brand and building trust through verifiable sustainability.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) are designed as secure, structured digital systems — not open databases.

Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), DPPs must operate through controlled access architecture. This means:

• A unique product identifier linked to a digital carrier (such as a QR code or RFID tag)

• A secure data repository

• Defined access rights for different stakeholder groups

Not all users see the same information. Access is layered and role-specific.

For example:

• Consumers may access repair instructions, durability information and sustainability indicators

• Recyclers may access material composition and disassembly guidance

• Regulators may review conformity declarations and compliance documentation

• Producers retain access to full lifecycle tracking and reporting data

This structured approach ensures commercially sensitive data remains protected, while required sustainability and compliance information is made accessible to those who need it.

Yes, Digital Product Passports (DPPs) are becoming mandatory in the European Union, with implementation rolling out by product category.

They are introduced under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and related legislation, and will apply to manufacturers, importers and distributors placing products on the EU market.

However, they are not being implemented across all sectors at once.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) create a continuous digital record that follows a product throughout its lifecycle.

Rather than storing information in disconnected systems, a DPP acts as a structured, interoperable data layer linked directly to the physical product via a digital carrier such as a QR code or RFID tag.

This creates what can best be described as a digital thread running through the entire product journey.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) give manufacturers more than regulatory compliance, they create a structured, future-ready foundation for product data.

By implementing DPPs, manufacturers can:

• Reduce compliance risk through verified, product-level data aligned with EU regulation

• Improve supply chain visibility across materials, recycled content and substances of concern

• Lower potential EPR costs by designing more durable and recyclable products

• Support repair, reuse and resale models, preserving product value

• Strengthen brand credibility with transparent, auditable sustainability data

In short, DPPs help manufacturers move from reactive compliance to proactive control, building resilience, efficiency and competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.