Digital product passport (DPP)

How it applies

• Data regulation first: The DPP is a horizontal layer of digital product information. It runs alongside existing safety, quality and conformity systems and is not product safety law; see DPP vs. technical file.
• Product group by product group: The ESPR sets the framework; each delegated act decides whether a group needs a passport, which data it holds, at which level (model, batch or item) and who may see what. Batteries have their own battery passport.
• Building blocks: A unique product identifier, a data carrier, the Commission's DPP registry and interoperable systems built to the harmonized DPP standards.
• Reach: Duties sit with the economic operator placing the product on the EU market, but the data comes from suppliers, importers and service partners, including those outside the EU.
• Not starting from zero: Most companies already hold the data somewhere. The work is checking whether ownership, access rights, source of truth, data integrity and change control are strong enough for a shared, partly public record.
• Technical documentation: Documentation teams already manage structured content, reuse, versions, approvals, language variants and lifecycle updates — the same disciplines a passport needs.

DPP vs. a data sheet

A data sheet is a document a company publishes when it chooses. A passport is a legally required, identifier-bound record whose content, access tiers and lifetime are set by law, which must stay available and current for the product's expected life.

Compared with the USA, Canada and China

No other of the four has a general product passport. The USA and Canada rely on sector traceability and reporting rules; China has a mature battery traceability platform and discusses national DPP pilots. See the global comparison.