Digital Product Passports (DPP): Key Insights and Benefits

The European Union is continually working to improve the manufacturing, use, and recycling of products. These changes rely heavily on the Digital Product Passport, a key towards sustainability and a circular economy.

By 2030, nearly every product sold in the EU market will require a Digital Product Passport, as directed by regulations like the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Understanding the Digital Product Passport is critical for businesses to stay competitive, compliant, and sustainable.

This article explains what a digital product passport is, why it matters, and how it’s reshaping the supply chains and industries. We’ll also take a look at how a digital product passport supports sustainable business practices, improves data security, and ensures access to trustworthy sustainability data, from raw materials to a product’s end-of-life.

What is a Digital Product Passport?

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured digital record that tracks key data throughout a product’s lifecycle. It holds verified, machine-readable product information linked to a unique product identifier. With a digital product passport, manufacturers, regulators, and consumers can trace a product from its creation to disposal or reuse.

Just like a digital passport holds all the information of a person, a digital product passport includes essential details about:

The digital product passport system ensures that this comprehensive information is accessible, consistent, and secure across the entire value chain.

Why is the Digital Product Passport Important?

A digital product passport aims to make all products sold in the EU market smarter, safer, and greener. It promotes sustainable products, encourages reuse and helps remove harmful products from the market.

A digital product passport helps companies to produce sustainable and circular textiles, construction materials, consumer electronics, batteries, furniture, footwear, plastics, packaging, as well as many other products.

Digital product passports also help companies to simplify compliance documentation, improve transparency, and build customer confidence.

For regulators, a digital product passport provides traceability data that they can use to measure and enforce sustainability targets.

Last but not least, consumers can make informed decisions based on a product’s origin, footprint, and expected lifespan, detailed in a digital product passport .

Digital Product Passport: A Key Component of EU Strategy

The European Union introduced the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) as part of its broader Circular Economy Action Plan. One of the core requirements of ESPR is that digital product passports should be used in most product categories, starting as early as 2026.

A digital product passport will affect the entire value chain of a product: from sourcing raw materials to providing repair guidelines, as well as verifying recycled content; all relevant data sets will be standardised and secured to ensure compliance with the relevant regulations.

By 2027, DPPs will be mandatory for high-impact sectors like electric vehicle batteries, textiles, and LMT batteries, followed by broader product categories by 2030.

The Legal Framework Behind Digital Product Passports

Implementing the digital product passport system is not optional, as it’s a central part of the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). ESPR aims to make sustainable products the norm in the EU market. This new regulation replaces and expands the previous eco-design rules, extending its scope far beyond energy-related products to almost all physical goods.

Starting in 2024, pilot product categories, such as consumer electronics, construction materials, and textiles, had to start preparing for DPP integration. From 2026 onwards, more product categories will be covered, with full enforcement expected by 2030.

The European Union requires each DPP to include a unique product identifier and comply with strict data requirements, covering everything from environmental impact and origin to repair instructions and the amount of recycled content.

Businesses must align with multiple relevant regulations, including:

• The Circular Economy Action Plan
• The Waste Framework Directive
• The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)

These regulations work together to ensure traceable, transparent, and reusable product design throughout its entire lifecycle.

Implementing Digital Product Passports: What Businesses Need to Know

Implementing digital product passports is a complex process that affects nearly every part of a company’s operations. It involves:

Businesses, both small and large, must evaluate their readiness for implementing DPP. For many organisations, this means investing in digital tools that capture and process traceability data in real-time.

To implement DPPs effectively, businesses need to start by identifying their most impactful product categories and mapping their supply chain. Once the data is located and cleaned, it must be linked to a data carrier, such as a QR code/RFID, and made available through a centralised and decentralised system.

Implementing DPPs will provide new revenue streams to companies, such as:

• • Repair-as-a-service
  • Verified resale
  • Circular business models based on durability, refurbishment, and reuse

Data Collection and Digital Infrastructure

Data collection is the centre of the digital product passport system. To meet ESPR’s data requirements, companies need to gather verified details on a product’s raw materials, emissions, repairability, and more. Usually, this process spans across global supply chains, often involving dozens of partners.

A DPP is only as good as the accuracy of its data sets. Many businesses are turning to blockchain to improve data security, verification, and transparency. Public, decentralised systems offer built-in data security, low energy usage, and help verify the credibility of shared claims.

Other tools, such as traceability platforms and cloud-based databases, can simplify data collection. These solutions can streamline information flows, especially when implementing digital product passports across multiple regions and sectors.

These infrastructures also improve product durability, enable automated quality checks, and help companies continuously monitor sustainability KPIs.

Protecting Data While Enabling Transparency

One of the biggest concerns regarding the digital product passport is privacy. Businesses often handle sensitive product or process data that they don’t want to expose to competitors. However, transparency doesn’t mean full disclosure.

Modern encryption technologies, like RSA and end-to-end systems, can help protect data security. Selective sharing techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, allow companies to confirm compliance without revealing proprietary details.

Using secure data carriers, blockchain, and well-defined access permissions helps the DPP balance transparency with protection, ensuring trust across the entire value chain.

Why Digital Product Passports Matter to Everyone

Digital product passport offers benefits that reach far beyond regulatory compliance. This system supports innovation, customer engagement, and long-term value creation across sectors. It’s also a powerful tool for transparency and consumer trust.

For Manufacturers and Retailers

Digital product passport helps businesses to validate green claims, provide transparent product histories, and ensure products meet sustainability targets. Companies can improve regulatory compliance and stand out in competitive markets by embedding verifiable DPP data into each product .

DPPs enhance brand credibility, help meet ESG goals, and enable new revenue streams such as:

• Refurbishment services
• Buy-back and resale
• Long-term warranties
• Repair programmes

For example, Breitling now uses blockchain-powered digital product passports for its luxury watches, enabling customers to verify authenticity and service history while supporting product durability.

In consumer electronics, where waste and obsolescence are growing concerns, DPPs provide essential insights into material use, energy consumption, and end-of-life options, enhancing both brand credibility and customer loyalty.

For Consumers

One of the DPP’s main goals is enabling consumers to make better, more responsible purchase decisions. With access to a product’s environmental impact, origin, and repair potential, it encourages people to make more sustainable choices and discourages greenwashing.

This supports a broader shift toward sustainable products and responsible consumption. Verified data helps customers distinguish proper ethical brands from companies that only market sustainability.

As enhanced transparency becomes the standard, it will improve buyer confidence, particularly in resale and repair markets. Whether purchasing a smartphone, sofa, or jacket, the DPP allows for confident and informed decisions.

For Policymakers

DPPs give governments and EU institutions the tools they need to monitor environmental policies in real time. With reliable, comprehensive information on emissions, waste, and circularity, policymakers can confirm whether products meet sustainability targets and enforce bans on non-compliant goods.

More importantly, DPPs will provide a consistent evidence base for policy development. By aligning data across sectors, they support harmonisation between relevant regulations and create fairer markets across multiple sectors.

This data-driven approach is central to the European Union’s ambitions for a resilient, resource-efficient economy.

Industry Applications: Where DPPs Are Taking Hold

The European Commission has prioritised several product categories for the rollout of digital product passports (DPPs). These sectors are among the highest contributors to waste, emissions, and unsustainable practices in the EU market. With increasing regulatory attention and shifting consumer expectations, DPPs are helping reshape these industries for a more circular economy.

Batteries and Energy Storage

Batteries, especially electric vehicle batteries, are a top priority due to their critical role in the green transition and the complexity of their value chain. The Battery Passport, a sector-specific implementation of the DPP, will be required under the EU Batteries Regulation.

This passport will track raw materials, carbon footprint, repairability, and recycled content, enabling safer disposal, reuse, and recycling. It will also help consumers and automotive companies assess compliance with sustainability and safety benchmarks across the entire value chain.

Automotive and Mobility

In the automotive sector, DPPs are set to transform how vehicles are produced, sold, and recycled. They provide structured data on components, emissions, and a product’s lifecycle, enabling better end-of-life planning and circular design.

With growing demand for traceable supply chains, especially for electric vehicles, DPPs help manufacturers meet relevant regulations and shift toward circular business models involving part reuse, remanufacturing, and second-life applications for batteries and electronics.

Consumer Electronics

The consumer electronics industry faces rising pressure due to its contribution to e-waste and short product life cycles. A DPP helps manage the entire lifecycle of devices by tracking energy consumption, product durability, and reuse potential . It also supports responsible sourcing and recovery of critical materials.

Manufacturers benefit from higher margins on refurbished devices and reduced warranty claims, while customers gain access to trusted repair guides and spare part listings. These features help consumers make informed decisions and encourage longer product use.

Textiles and Fashion

Sustainable and circular textiles are central to the EU’s DPP strategy. The fashion industry is the fourth-largest contributor to environmental degradation in Europe. From 2027, all textiles placed on the EU market will be required to carry a digital product passport.

DPPs will provide transparency on fabric origin, dyeing processes, chemical use, and fair-labour practices. They also enable resale, repair, and rental schemes, facilitating new circular business models that promote resource efficiency and reduce waste.

Furniture and Interior Products

The furniture industry faces rising scrutiny around materials, chemicals, and short lifespans. DPPs improve traceability data on wood sourcing, finishes, adhesives, and potential for disassembly or reuse.

This enables designers and producers to develop durable, repairable products and participate in circular services such as furniture rental, trade-ins, or certified resale, all supported by accessible, verifiable digital records.

Construction Materials

In the construction sector, DPPs bring visibility into sourcing, embedded emissions, and the product’s sustainability. This is vital for meeting ESG standards and achieving sustainability targets in large-scale infrastructure projects.

DPPs support more circular approaches to procurement, including modular design, reclaimed material use, and lifecycle tracking for steel, timber, and insulation. They also help align building products with green certification frameworks.

Overcoming Challenges in Digital Product Passport Adoption

While the benefits are clear, implementing digital product passports is not without its challenges. For many companies, especially SMEs, the biggest challenges include data collection, standardisation, and managing costs across global supply chains.

Technical Barriers

Many organisations struggle with integrating their systems to handle DPP data. There are gaps between supplier capabilities, outdated platforms, and inconsistent formats. These technical challenges can slow down rollout and affect compliance documentation.

The solution lies in digital transformation. Businesses should adopt standard APIs, scalable traceability tools, and secure cloud systems. When combined with automation, this reduces human error, boosts reliability, and helps track the product’s lifecycle in real time.

Ensuring Data Accuracy

A digital product passport’s value depends on how accurate and complete its sustainability data is. Errors or omissions can mislead both consumers and regulators.

Using blockchain or decentralised ledgers can improve data security and trust. These systems make sure every update is verified, timestamped, and linked to a unique product identifier. They also enhance traceability, especially in sectors like electric vehicle batteries or consumer electronics.

Engaging Stakeholders

One of the greatest challenges in implementing digital product passports is cooperation. The entire supply network, from raw material providers to recyclers, must engage. Success depends on building shared understanding, trust, and shared access to systems.

Effective communication, training, and industry alliances are essential. The more aligned stakeholders are, the easier it becomes to implement enhanced transparency and shared value across the entire value chain.

Future Outlook and Innovation

The future of the digital product passport system is rich with opportunity. As the infrastructure matures and data flows become more mainstream, more businesses will be able to join the shift toward greener, fairer trade.

Blockchain and Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Expect further investment in data security methods such as zero-knowledge proofs, which confirm compliance without exposing sensitive commercial details. These tools will help industries scale DPPs while safeguarding their competitive edge.

New Business Models

Reliable product data creates space for new business models focused on repair, take-back schemes, and certified second-hand sales. It also provides access to new revenue streams for service providers and value-added digital platforms.

Circularity and Global Expansion

As DPPs expand, they’ll play a key role in reshaping global supply chains, allowing countries and corporations to better manage environmental impact, resource use, and product recovery.

Any organisation that aligns with the European Union’s broader EU strategy for sustainable development, DPPs will help them get recognised as sustainability leaders, while setting global benchmarks for fairer, greener trade.

How DigiProd Pass Supports Digital Product Passport (DPPs) Implementation

As businesses prepare to meet the digital product passport (DPP) requirements across the EU market, many face challenges ranging from data collection and regulatory compliance to system integration and supply chain engagement. That’s where we come in.

At DigiProd Pass, we specialise in helping manufacturers, retailers, and industry leaders navigate the complexities of implementing digital product passports.

Our platform is built to align with the latest EU strategy and sustainable products regulation, enabling companies to future-proof their operations while enhancing transparency and traceability across the entire value chain.

Tailored DPP Solutions

We provide a modular, scalable digital product passport system that easily integrates with existing ERP, PLM, and supply chain tools. From assigning a unique product identifier and configuring a compliant data carrier (e.g. QR code) to mapping the product’s lifecycle and managing real-time updates, our solution simplifies the entire DPP journey.

Compliance-Ready Architecture

Our systems are designed to meet evolving data requirements under the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and other relevant regulations. We help businesses ensure compliance by validating their data structures, formats, and access protocols, streamlining both internal audits and external reporting.

Enhanced Data Security and Sharing

Using end-to-end encryption, selective disclosure protocols (e.g. zero-knowledge proofs), and optional blockchain integration, we make sure that your sensitive business information is protected while still enabling safe, structured data sharing across global networks.

Cross-Sector Expertise

Whether you’re in batteries, consumer electronics, textiles, furniture, or automotive, our team brings domain-specific knowledge to configure DPPs that match your product categories and use cases. We’ve supported projects across Europe, including pilots in circular business models, supply chain traceability, and ESG reporting.

Why It Matters

Companies that act early will gain more than compliance. They will unlock new revenue streams, build consumer trust, and contribute to measurable environmental impact reduction. With DigiProd Pass Ltd. as your partner, you’ll be ready to take the lead in this transition with confidence, efficiency, and credibility.

Final Thoughts

The digital product passport is a game-changer for business, sustainability, and the European Union’s environmental agenda. It makes sustainable products measurable, transparent, and verifiable.

With the deadlines approaching fast, businesses that act early to invest in systems, map their supply chain, and collect reliable sustainability data will gain a clear competitive edge.

Whether you’re a manufacturer, policymaker, or customer, DPPs are transforming how we understand, value, and manage the product’s lifecycle. It’s time to move from aspiration to action, towards a truly circular economy.

Resources

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9. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. Batteries and Waste Batteries Regulation. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023R1542
10. European Commission. (2023). Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/proposal-packaging-and-packaging-waste_en
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