A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured, machine-readable record tied to one specific product unit — accessed by scanning a QR code or NFC tag on the product itself — that documents what it's made of, where its materials came from, its carbon footprint, and how it can be repaired or recycled. It's a legal requirement under EU law, starting with batteries in 2027 and expanding to other product categories through 2030.
Every regulated unit gets a unique identifier, usually encoded as a GS1 Digital Link QR code — something like id.example.com/01/{product-code}/21/{serial-number}. Scanning it doesn't land you on a generic company page; it resolves to a passport for that exact unit, served by the manufacturer's platform (or a provider like Matrikel acting on their behalf).
The regulations define access tiers, and this is the part most explainers skip. A consumer scanning the passport without logging in sees the public layer: chemistry or materials, capacity, carbon footprint, recycled content. A repairer or recycler who authenticates gets a deeper technical layer: disassembly instructions, safety data, component details. Regulators and the European Commission get full access to everything, including the underlying compliance records. One URL, three outcomes, depending on who's asking.
A DPP isn't one flat record. Model-level data is filled in once per product model — the things that are true for every unit of that model: material composition, origin of critical raw materials, carbon footprint per lifecycle stage. Item-level data is specific to one serial number: production date and site, test results, and dynamic data added after the sale — charge cycles for a battery, repair history for almost anything. See our full data model breakdown for a worked example.
A common misconception is that the EU hosts these passports centrally. It doesn't. The model is decentralized: passport data stays with the manufacturer or their service provider, for the life of the product plus a retention period — even if the manufacturer goes out of business, which is why a back-up hosting arrangement is a regulatory requirement, not a nice-to-have. The EU's central registry, live since 19 July 2026, stores only the unique identifiers, so that customs and market surveillance authorities can verify a passport exists and resolve it. Every identifier a platform issues gets registered there automatically.
Batteries first: industrial, electric-vehicle and light-transport batteries over 2 kWh need a passport by 18 February 2027 under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. From there, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation — Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 — brings in other categories through 2030 as the Commission publishes each one's delegated act. See how the requirement applies category by category on our industries page, or read the EU Battery Regulation guide and ESPR guide for the detail.
No. The QR code (or NFC tag) is just the pointer — usually a GS1 Digital Link URL printed on the product. The Digital Product Passport is the structured data the code resolves to: a web page and underlying dataset covering composition, origin, footprint and repair information for that specific unit.
Partly. The regulations use tiered access: a public layer anyone can see without logging in, a professional layer for authenticated repairers and recyclers, and a full layer for regulators and the European Commission.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (the Battery Regulation) requires one for industrial, EV and light-transport batteries over 2 kWh by 18 February 2027. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) extends the same requirement to other product categories over time, starting with textiles.
No. The EU's central registry, live since 19 July 2026, stores only the unique identifiers so customs and market surveillance authorities can confirm a passport exists. The actual data is hosted by the manufacturer or their service provider.
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