The Digital Product Passport (DPP)58 goes beyond the declaration of a product’s performance characteristics (known today as DoP and product data sheet) and gives the produced unit an identity that can be traced along the value chains.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is an important component of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR). The DPP is a so-called “data carrier” that must be attached to all products that fall under the ESPR.
The DPP will make information available to actors in the supply chain, regulatory authorities and consumers. In addition to product characteristics and material composition, information on the environmental impact of products (e.g. CO₂ emissions) is to be made available via the DPP. This should enable circular practices such as the repair or recycling of products to be promoted through improved data management.
To implement a DPP and its data and digitization-related aspects, the necessary elements are structured along the following seven points59:
- Data carriers and unique identifiers
- Management of access rights (access rights management)
- Interoperability (technical, semantic, organisational), including data exchange protocols and formats
- Data storage
- Data processing (introduction, modification, update)
- Authentication, reliability and integrity of data (Data authentication, reliability, and integrity)
- Data security and privacy
All information contained in the DPP must be based on open standards, developed in an interoperable format and be machine-readable, structured and searchable. In the long term, the EU Parliament plans to establish a public online platform for comparing information from the product passports. This so-called EU database for construction products (see also Chapter 10.6 EU database for construction products) is intended to make it easier for users to compare the performance of construction products and ensure that they meet the essential requirements for safety, health and environmental protection.
The proposal for the ESPR was published on March 30, 2022 and is currently in the legislative phase. Once adopted, the ESPR will be gradually implemented from 202460. The ESPR will initially apply to at least three key sectors, including electronics, textiles and furniture. The precise requirements for construction products will be set out in delegated acts, which may be adopted on the basis of implementing acts61.
Delegated acts and implementing acts are legal norms adopted by the European Commission in order to implement European legislative acts62.
58 circulareconomy.europa.eu: Digital Product Passport Report
59 din.de: German Standardization Roadmap Circular Economy – Chapter 3: 3.3 Digital Product Passport (DPP)
61 consilium.europa.eu: Products fit for the green transition
62 europa.eu: Implementing acts and delegated acts
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