Product Compliance: The Digital Product Passport
With the Ecodesign Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), the EU is introducing a digital product passport. This is intended to provide economic operators along the value chain through to the consumer with quick and easy access to relevant information about products. The regulation has been in force since 18.07.2024 and is part of the European Green Deal. It replaces the Ecodesign Directive (Directive (EU) 2009/125/EC) and applies directly, with specific implementation obligations expected from 19.07.2025.
Content of the digital product passport
According to the Ecodesign Regulation, the Digital Product Passport (also "DPP") is a product-specific data set with the information relevant to the respective product, which can be accessed electronically via a data carrier. The Digital Product Passport should be easily accessible via a QR code or a watermark on the product itself, for example. The exact content of the digital product passport depends on the product and its product group. For example, it should contain the following information: the product identifier, declarations of conformity, user manuals and information about the manufacturer. This information should be available throughout the entire product life cycle. The exact requirements for the content will be defined by the European Commission in so-called "delegated acts", which are not yet available.
Material scope of application: Products covered
The Digital Product Passport applies to all physical goods that are placed on the market or put into service. This also includes components and intermediate products. Foodstuffs, animal feed, medicinal products and living organisms are excluded. Medical devices, on the other hand, are generally covered by the regulation, although limited applicability could still result from the delegated acts. As a framework act, the Ecodesign Regulation itself does not contain a list of the specific products covered, but delegates this task to the Commission.
Personal scope of application: Affected companies
All economic operators involved in the value chain of the respective product are covered by the new obligations. Therefore, in addition to manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers, distributors and fulfillment service providers are also affected.
Temporal scope of application: implementation deadline
In principle, the Ecodesign Regulation replaces the Ecodesign Directive immediately with effect from July 18, 2024. However, as already explained, both the scope of application and the content of the digital product passport depend on what the European Commission regulates in the delegated acts. The first delegated act, which is based on the Ecodesign Regulation, will enter into force on July 19, 2025 at the earliest in accordance with Art. 4 (7) of the Ecodesign Regulation. Economic operators will then have a transitional period of at least 18 months from the entry into force of the respective delegated act to comply with the ecodesign requirements and thus the requirements for the digital product passport. This may be waived in exceptional cases.
Who has to implement the Digital Product Passport?
Manufacturers are obliged to ensure that products that are placed on the market or put into service in accordance with the delegated acts are equipped with a digital product passport that meets the content requirements and is stored by an independent third-party digital product service provider. This regulation also applies to importers. For retailers, the digital product passport must be easily accessible for customers and potential customers - including online retailers.
Outlook: Additional documentation effort or simplification through digitalization?
Only the future delegated acts will show whether the digital product passport is a curse or a blessing. On the one hand, it is conceivable that, in a negative sense, it will simply create additional documentation work for economic operators. This is particularly the case if analog and digital labeling and information obligations were to apply alongside each other in the future - for example, a user manual to be supplied with the product, which must also be made accessible via the digital product passport. At the same time, it is still somewhat unclear how all actors in the supply chain can be involved at an equally low threshold so that the information can be provided properly "through the supply chain".
If successfully implemented, however, the digital product passport offers above all an opportunity for long overdue digitalization without media discontinuity: all information could be bundled and made available in a single place, thus eliminating the need for extensive information on the product itself. The fact that the European Union has fundamentally recognized this desire on the part of economic players was also recently demonstrated in the draft of the new Machinery Regulation, which for the first time provides for "digital operating instructions".
Conclusion
For the time being, the regulation leaves important details open, for example: For which product groups must the digital product passport contain which information exactly? Can we assume that all parties involved in an end product will be able to access the digital product passport and have write authorization? Will the digital product passport serve as a common reference point for all legal labeling requirements in the future? To answer these questions, we will have to wait for the European Commission to issue its delegated acts. Nevertheless, the digital product passport could also be an opportunity for manufacturers to bundle information obligations in the future. However, it remains to be seen whether the digital product passport will develop in this direction.
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