Regulations and trends
What is the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP)?
The EU Digital Product Passport gives products a scannable record of materials, origin and sustainability data under ESPR: which products, when, what to do.
Quick answer
The EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a digital record attached to a product through a data carrier such as a QR code, giving access to information about its materials, origin, environmental performance, repair and recycling. It is required by the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, product group by product group, with batteries the first through their own regulation.
Updated 30 October 2026. Written by the Ajinkya Technologies engineering team, reviewed by Amey Kadle.
Digital Product Passport explained
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 lets the European Commission set product specific requirements, including a DPP, through delegated acts for each product group. The Commission’s working plan of 16 April 2025 prioritises iron and steel, aluminium, textiles and apparel, furniture, tyres and mattresses, plus repairability and recyclability rules for electronics. Each group gets its own delegated act, which applies at least 18 months after it enters into force; no steel or textile passport date had been published by October 2026, so those obligations are expected from the late 2020s.
Batteries come first under the separate Batteries Regulation: a battery passport becomes mandatory from 18 February 2027 for electric vehicle batteries, light means of transport batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh. Other product laws add their own passports, for detergents from 23 September 2029 and for toys from 1 August 2030. The EU registry for passport identifiers went live on 20 July 2026.
For manufacturers, the DPP turns traceability into a product feature. Each passport needs a unique identifier, a data carrier on the product, and reliable data from production and the supply chain: materials, components, origin, test results and sometimes carbon footprint. GS1 identifiers and web resolvable QR codes are a common way to meet the identifier and carrier requirements. Exporters to Europe, including Indian suppliers of steel, aluminium, textiles and components, will be asked by their customers for the data well before the deadlines.
Key concepts
- Required by ESPR, product group by product group
- Data carrier such as a QR code on the product
- Batteries first: passport from 18 February 2027
- Steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres among the priorities
- Needs unique identifiers and reliable production data
Questions
When will the Digital Product Passport be mandatory?
It depends on the product group. Batteries require a passport from 18 February 2027, detergents from 23 September 2029 and toys from 1 August 2030. Steel, textiles and other ESPR groups get dates in their own delegated acts, each applying at least 18 months after adoption.
What information goes into a DPP?
Product specific requirements set by each delegated act, typically identifiers, materials and components, origin, environmental performance, and repair and recycling information.
Do Indian exporters need a Digital Product Passport?
The obligation falls on whoever places the product on the EU market, but they will need data from their suppliers, so exporters should expect requests for product level data and identifiers.
References
How we help with DPP
We build the serialisation, identifiers, data carriers and production data capture a passport depends on, using GS1 standards, QR, NFC and RFID; some of our traceability systems already run for premium luxury brands.
Traceability rules by industry, with dates and sources, and how to build for them.
Related terms
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