Digital Product Passport

Digital product passports (DPPs) are a tool for businesses, regulators, and consumers. They let these groups trace a product's origin, materials, and supply chain journey. By creating secure records, DPPs strengthen trust and help combat counterfeiting. They also streamline compliance with new standards.

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In this post, we’ll explore what DPPs are and how companies can implement them effectively to ensure compliance and enable circular economy practices.

What Is a Digital Product Passport?

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a secure digital record linked to a product, storing comprehensive data on its lifecycle, sustainability, and compliance. While the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which mandates DPPs, is still being adopted, its requirements are already becoming mandatory in phases, starting with key sectors such as textiles, batteries, and electronics. 

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These requirements are extensive, extending beyond sustainability data to also include details on a product's conformity assessments and safe use information. This broad scope helps increase supply chain transparency and supports a more robust circular economy.

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DPPs are typically accessed through RFID tags, QR codes, or NFC chips embedded in or attached to the product. These machine-readable, standards-based data containers accompany the item and can be updated in real-time, ensuring accurate information is available across multiple systems and jurisdictions.

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A DPP generally includes:

• Manufacturing information: Details on product origin, materials, and production methods to verify authenticity and environmental impact
• Repair information: Guidance and records on maintenance, servicing, and parts replacement to extend the product’s lifespan
• Supply chain data: A record of ownership transfers, custody changes, and logistics to enable traceability and accountability
• Recycling and end-of-life instructions: Steps for safe disposal or reuse to minimize waste
• Regulatory compliance evidence: Documentation proving the product meets all applicable standards

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By enabling this level of transparency, DPPs help businesses and consumers participate in a circular economy — a model where products and materials are kept in use for as long as possible, reducing waste and maximizing value. They also reflect broader supply chain trends to watch in 2025, where sustainability and traceability are becoming business imperatives.

Why Do Digital Product Passports Exist?

DPPs were created to provide reliable, standardized product data that can be accessed throughout an item’s lifecycle. Mandated by the ESPR, they combat counterfeiting, verify sustainability claims, and streamline customs checks. 

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By making this information universally available, DPPs strengthen trust, support circular economy goals, and improve accountability across global supply chains.

Digital Product Passport Legislation

The digital product passport is a mandatory requirement under the ESPR, part of the European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan. It applies to regulated product categories, including:

• Textiles
• Electronics
• Batteries
• Select industrial goods

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Each covered product must carry a machine-readable record with lifecycle, sustainability, and compliance data accessible to regulators and authorized stakeholders throughout its lifespan. The regulation applies equally to EU manufacturers and foreign exporters placing goods on the EU market.

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Consequences of non-compliance include:

• Denied market access
• Product recalls
• Administrative fines
• Public non-conformance listings
• Shipment delays or rejections at EU borders
• Increased inspection frequency
• Loss of preferred supplier status with distributors and retailers

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Proactively adopting compliant DPPs — especially through platforms like Tradeverifyd that already integrate verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers, United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) data models, and World Customs Organization (WCO) classification structures — reduces these risks and positions companies ahead of similar legislation expected in other markets. Additionally, DPP adoption now can future-proof your compliance posture by reducing duplication of adherence efforts as similar rules emerge in the U.S. and Asia. 

"Companies that treat digital product passports as more than a compliance checkbox gain a real competitive advantage. This keeps you out of regulatory trouble, but also helps your brand stand apart."
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Karyl Fowler, Chief Policy Officer at Tradeverifyd

Who Needs To Use EU Digital Product Passports?

All EU producers and importers of regulated products must comply with DPP requirements under the ESPR. This obligation also extends to non-EU exporters: Any company placing products on the EU market must provide a compliant DPP. For U.S. exporters, integrating DPP capabilities into existing compliance workflows is not optional — it’s required for market access.

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Different industries may face specific digital product passport regulations, so companies need to understand how these rules apply to their product categories. Tradeverifyd supports compliance and helps companies meet these requirements efficiently by implementing:

• Verifiable credentials and decentralized identifiers
• UN/CEFACT core components and multi-modal transport reference data models
• WCO data model and electronic bill of lading (eBL) standards

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These capabilities allow companies to ingest, validate, and share DPP data securely without costly system re-engineering while aligning with the new standard for ethical and compliant global sourcing.

Do Companies Outside the EU Need Digital Product Passports?

A product entering the EU must carry a compliant DPP, even if the company that created the product is outside the EU. Imagine scanning a QR code on a jacket in Paris and instantly seeing where the cotton was grown, who assembled it, and how to recycle it.

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Foreign exporters, including U.S. brands, are required to provide a compliant passport just like EU producers and importers. These passports must use secure, verifiable digital credentials in a standardized format so records can be trusted, shared, and understood across global supply chains.

Digital Product Passport Benefits

A DPP isn’t just a regulatory requirement — it’s a business advantage. The transparency and data integrity they provide create value across your entire organization. This approach literally converts compliance data into operational intelligence (e.g. faster supplier qualification, automated customs clearance, and even carbon accounting).

Improved Sustainability

By embedding lifecycle data directly into a DPP, companies can trace the environmental footprint of each component — down to the silicon chips inside a device. Details like raw material sourcing, energy usage, and recyclability become transparent, empowering businesses to meet sustainability goals and helping consumers make informed, eco-friendly choices.

Maintain a Circular Economy

When a smartphone reaches end-of-life, for example, its DPP tells recyclers which parts are reusable and where to send them. Because the passport follows UN/CEFACT recycling standards, its data is structured for machine readability. This enables machine-to-machine processing, allowing recycling systems and legacy software to automatically process the information. This helps valuable materials stay in circulation, cuts down on landfill waste, and strengthens supply chain resilience.

Better Efficiency 

A smartphone’s DPP provides regulators and customs with verified, standardized data, reducing errors and streamlining reporting. With Tradeverifyd, this verified product data can flow securely and interoperably to regulators and partners, cutting clearance times and eliminating unnecessary paperwork. The result is faster market entry and smoother supply chain operations.

Increased Supply Chain Visibility

From the factory floor to the retailer, every custody change for that smartphone is recorded in a DPP. Tradeverifyd can ensure these records are interoperable and verifiable across systems, giving all stakeholders a single, trusted view of the product’s journey.

Meet Consumer Demands 

At the store, a buyer scans a smartphone’s NFC tag to see its origin, sustainability data, and warranty information. DPPs make authenticity and compliance transparent, giving customers confidence in their purchase and helping brands meet growing expectations for sustainable supply chains.

Gain Data Transparency

DPPs give companies a unified, verifiable view of sourcing, production, logistics, and end-of-life handling. For example, a manufacturer can quickly trace a delayed component back to its supplier, verify its compliance, and adjust production schedules accordingly. With all product data in one place, decision-making is faster, audits are simpler, and supply chain visibility improves.
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Digital Product Passport Example

Consider an organic cotton shirt with its own digital product passport accessible via a QR code on the garment’s label.

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When scanned, the DPP could show the origin of the cotton fibers, the factory where it was produced, details on the dyeing process and water usage, and carbon emissions from shipping to the store. Consumers get a clear, verifiable view of the shirt’s environmental footprint from farm to retail.

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The DPP could also include care instructions to minimize environmental impact, guidance on minor repairs or repurposing, and information on textile recycling programs at the end of its life. This empowers brands and consumers to reduce the product’s overall impact throughout its lifecycle, supporting sustainable choices at every stage.

“The biggest efficiency gains come when digital product passports are integrated from the very start of the product lifecycle. Embedding DPP data capture in design, procurement, and manufacturing lets you avoid downstream errors, duplicative reporting, and expensive rework. It turns compliance into a byproduct of doing business well versus reactive firefighting.”
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Karyl Fowler, Chief Policy Officer at Tradeverifyd

How To Set up Digital Product Passports

Implementing digital product passports begins with a plan to capture, store, and share compliant product data. This means choosing the right ID technology, making sure systems can work together, and creating secure records that travel with each product.

1. Create an Implementation Plan

Begin by choosing an identifier method—such as QR codes, NFC chips, or RFID tags—that will link physical products to their digital records. The right choice depends on your product type, lifecycle, and intended data access points.

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Crucially, this isn't just a post-production task. For maximum impact, embed DPP creation into the earliest stages of your product's lifecycle, from design and procurement to your product lifecycle management (PLM) workflows. This proactive approach helps to limit data gaps and builds the most high-resolution, granular, and automated audit trail possible, which is a major goal of DPPs.

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Next, decide how the passport will integrate with your existing supply chain software. This may mean configuring current enterprise resource planning (ERP) or PLM platforms or working with a new provider that can deliver full compliance capabilities. Tradeverifyd supports DID-based identifiers that resolve to W3C-compliant credential records, ensuring your DPPs are both standards-aligned and future-proof.

2. Transfer Data for DPPs 

Most organizations already store product data in ERP or PLM systems. Transferring it into a DPP means mapping existing records to UN/CEFACT DPP schemas and WCO product classification structures — a process Tradeverifyd automates with its standards-based knowledge graph.

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Data can be transferred through centralized systems, where records live in one authorized database, or decentralized models, often blockchain-based, which distribute records for greater trust and resilience. Tradeverifyd supports both, enabling secure, interoperable exchange that fits your existing infrastructure.

3. Ensure Secure Data Storage

Protecting digital product passport data is critical to maintaining trust, meeting regulatory requirements, and preventing unauthorized access or tampering. This means safeguarding sensitive information, such as manufacturing details, ownership records, and compliance documentation, through strong authentication and encryption protocols.

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Tradeverifyd secures DPP data using:

• Cryptographic signing and verification per IETF RFC 7515/7519 (JWS/JWT)
• W3C Verifiable Credential Data Integrity specifications for tamper-evident records
• Access controls to ensure only authorized parties can view or update data
• Verifiable audit trails to meet regulator and partner requirements

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By embedding security into every stage of the data lifecycle, you protect product integrity and reduce the risk of costly compliance breaches.

Manage a Responsible Supply Chain with Tradeverifyd

Tradeverifyd streamlines DPP implementation with secure data exchange, automated schema mapping, and cryptographic protections, helping organizations maintain compliance, enhance supply chain visibility, and support a circular economy.

Explore supply chain risk management solutions or request a demo to see how Tradeverifyd can help your company maintain compliance and build a resilient, future-ready supply chain.